Teenie Matlock


I'm Founding Faculty in Cognitive and Information Sciences at UC Merced, the 10th campus in the UC system. In 2004, I came to the campus to create a Cognitive Science Program. I hold the McClatchy Chair in Communications at UC Merced, serve as a standing member of the NIH Language and Communication Study Section, and serve on the governing board of the Cognitive Science Society. I'm Affiliate Faculty in the Institute of Cognitive and Brain Sciences at UC Berkeley, and a member of the Sierra Nevada Research Institute at UC Merced.

My research is a mesh of cognitive linguistics, experimental psychology, and human-computer interaction. Many of my projects focus on the dynamics of language processing, especially figurative language, spatial language, and more generally, framing effects. I completed my PhD in cognitive psychology at UC Santa Cruz after doing linguistics graduate work at UC San Diego, and I did post-doctoral research in the Psychology Department at Stanford University.

At UC Merced, I teach cognitive science courses, including Introduction to Language and Linguistics, Introduction to Cognitive Science, and Metaphor and Thought. I have also coordinated the Mind, Technology, and Society talk series.

I'm Vice Chair of the American Indian Council in Mariposa County, and my husband, Paul Maglio, is a faculty member in the School of Engineering at UC Merced. I enjoy running and hiking.