College of Science and Health > Faculty & Staff > Faculty A-Z > Sandra Virtue

Sandra Virtue

​​​Website:​​ http://sandravirtue.com/

Education
Ph.D., University of Minnesota
M.A., Baylor University
B.S., University of Florida

Major Areas of Interest
  • Neural activity during reading
  • Trademarks and the brain
  • Inference generation during text comprehension
  • The role of the right hemisphere in conspiracy theories
  • How readers process advertisements and slogans in the brain
  • Hemispheric processing of nonliteral language (e.g., metaphors, idioms, sarcasm, etc.)
Representative Sample of Research Publications

Tomkins, B., Perea, M, Virtue, S., & Gomez, P. (2025). Response biases in the divided visual field lexical decision task: A diffusion model account. Visual Cognition, 1-18.

Van Nuland, A., & Virtue, S. (2025). Hemispheric processing of strongly and weakly constrained bridging inferences: An ERP study. Laterality: Asymmetries of Brain, Behaviour, and Cognition, 1-24.

Virtue, S. M., & Cahr, D. S. (2022). Trademarks and the Brain: Neuroscience and the Processing of Non-Literal Language, The Trademark Reporter, 112 (4), 695-705.

Briner, S., Schutzenhofer, M., & Virtue, S. (2018). The effects of prior knowledge on the hemispheric processing of conventional metaphors. Neuropsychologia, 114, 101-109.

Virtue, S., & Schutzenhofer, M., & Tomkins, B. (2017). Hemispheric processing of predictive inferences during reading: The influence of negatively emotional valenced stimuli. Laterality: Asymmetries of Body, Brain and Cognition, 4, 455-472.

Virtue, S., & Motyka Joss, L. (2016). Hemispheric processing of predictive inferences: The influence of reading goals and textual constraint. Cognitive Neuroscience, 1-9.

Virtue, S., & Sundermeier, B. (2016). What can neuroimaging research tell us about inference generation during text comprehension? Language and Linguistics Compass, 10 (6), 257-271.​

Representative Sample of Research Presentations

Van Nuland, A., Dahlke, G.R., & Virtue, S. (2025, April). Illusory Pattern Perception and the Right Hemisphere. Poster presented at the 97th Annual Midwestern Psychological Association (MPA). Chicago, IL.

O'Neill, L., Van Nuland, A., & Virtue, S. (2024, July). Conspiracy Theory Belief: The role of metaphors and individual differences. Poster presented at the Annual Meeting of the Society for Text and Discourse (ST&D). Chicago, IL.

Van Nuland, A. & Virtue, S. (2024, July). Inferring Character emotions during text comprehension. Poster presented at the Annual Meeting of the Society for Text and Discourse (ST&D). Chicago, IL.

Cahr, D., & Virtue, S. (2022, January). Trademarks and the Brain: Neuroscience and the Processing of Non-literal Language. Paper presented at the Annual Meeting of the International Trademark Association (INTA) Scholarship Symposium. Virtual Convention.