Publications

92+ peer-reviewed publications · 11 manuscripts in prep / submitted · 2,300+ citing researchers · Google Scholar →  ·  ResearchGate →

• ACCEPTED

  Stroke Lesions as a Rosetta Stone for Language Model Interpretability (BLUM)

  Fridriksson, Newman-Norlund, R.D., Ahmadi, Willis, Salman, Warren, Guan, Yang, Nelakuditi, Desai, Bonilha, Charney, Rorden. Patterns (Cell Press), accepted October 2026, in press. The flagship paper of the allt.ai LLM-aphasia thread, mapping LLM perturbation patterns onto post-stroke aphasia profiles. arXiv →

• IN PREP

  Cross-Task Perturbation Fingerprints: Do Perturbed Language Models Behave Like People with Aphasia?

  Newman-Norlund, R.D., Ahmadi, Willis, Salman, Warren, Guan, Yang, Nelakuditi, Desai, Bonilha, Charney, Rorden, Fridriksson. Manuscript in preparation, 2026. Feasibility-first methodology: do model lesions produce stable, separable, dose-responsive, interpretable signatures across a 20-task battery before we let patient data into the room?

• IN PREP

  PRISM: A causal framework for layer-resolved subtraction analysis in perturbed language models

  Guan, Newman-Norlund, R.D., Yang, Ahmadi, Willis, Salman, Warren, Nelakuditi, Desai, Rorden, Bonilha, Fridriksson. Manuscript in preparation, 2026. Perturbation-based Regional Interpretability through Subtraction Mapping - the human-neuroimaging inferential pipeline imported to perturbed transformers.

• IN PREP

  Inverse symptom–lesion mapping in human aphasia: predicting left-hemisphere damage location from behavioral phenotype (SLM)

  Newman-Norlund, R.D., Warren, Ahmadi, Salman, Willis, Guan, Yang, Nelakuditi, Desai, Bonilha, Charney, Rorden, Fridriksson. Manuscript in preparation, 2026. LSM run backwards - predict per-ROI lesion-load fractions from the patient's behavioural profile when imaging isn't available.

• IN PREP

  Where Language Models Fail Like Aphasic Patients - And Where They Don't (FAULT)

  Yang, Newman-Norlund, R., Guan, Ahmadi, Willis, Salman, Warren, Arheix-Parras, Nelakuditi, Desai, Bonilha, Rorden, Fridriksson. Manuscript in preparation, 2026. Architectural predictions about which PNT error categories align with patients vs. which diverge.

• IN PREP

  Recovering Internal Perturbations from Behavioral Error Profiles in Large Language Models (INFER)

  Yang, Newman-Norlund, R., Guan, Ahmadi, Willis, Salman, Warren, Arheix-Parras, Nelakuditi, Desai, Bonilha, Rorden, Fridriksson. Manuscript in preparation, 2026. Inverts the behaviour→perturbation mapping - given an error profile, recover the underlying perturbation parameters.

• IN PREP

  Artificial Perturbations in Multimodal Language Models Reproduce Human Aphasia Patterns (LMN)

  Yang, Guan, Arheix-Parras, Newman-Norlund, R., Fridriksson, Desai, Nelakuditi. Manuscript in preparation, 2026. Exhaustive 3-parameter perturbation search matched each of 278 patients' PNT error profiles; 91% matched on ≥6/7 categories.

• IN PREP

  Attention Is Not Enough: a single attention head is necessary but not sufficient for picture naming in a vision-language model

  Nemati, Newman-Norlund, R.D., Ahmadi, Guan, Yang, Nelakuditi, Desai, Rorden, Fridriksson. Manuscript in preparation, 2026. Single-head lesion-symptom mapping in LLaVA-1.6-Vicuna-13B: L0h20 is necessary for naming (99% → 0.6% when ablated) but not sufficient (alone → 0%). The head is a gateway, not a module.

• IN PREP

  The Prodrome Nobody Saw: behavioral and emotional dysregulation in the pre-diagnostic phase of autoimmune primary adrenal insufficiency

  Newman-Norlund, R.D. Manuscript in preparation, 2026. Patient-authored review + single fully-documented case of polyglandular syndrome type 2 (T1D + autoimmune hypothyroidism + Addison's). Companion to a clinical case report submitted to BMJ Case Reports.

• SUB

  Mapping the Path to Degeneration: How Lesion Location Predicts Post-Stroke Cerebellar Atrophy

  Gibson, Newman-Norlund, R.D., Wilmskoetter, Kristinsson, Bonilha, Fridriksson, Rorden. NeuroImage: Clinical, submitted 2026 (Ms. NICL-25-570R3, R3 under review). Which cortical lesion locations predict which patterns of downstream cerebellar atrophy in chronic stroke.

• IN PREP

  Associations Between Chronic Hypertension and Age-Related Deep White Matter Hyperintensity Burden in Acute Ischemic Stroke: Evidence for Downstream Effects on Stroke Severity

  R. Pallapothu, Kummari, Newman-Norlund, R.D., Umasankar, S. Pallapothu, Kannan, Kudaravalli, Absher, Rorden. Manuscript in preparation, 2026. Chronic hypertension → deep WMH burden → acute-stroke severity: a mediation-style analysis showing that pre-stroke vascular damage sets the ceiling on how bad an acute ischemic event will be.

• IN PREP

  Venous Architecture Varies with the Effect of Cardiovascular Risk on Regional Brain Aging

  S. Pallapothu, Newman-Norlund, R.D., Riccardi, R. Pallapothu, Fridriksson, Bonilha, Bakos, Sigurdsson, Gudnason, Mansencal, Coupé, Kristinsson. Manuscript in preparation, 2026. Individual venous architecture moderates how cardiovascular risk maps onto per-region brain-age gaps - a vessel-anatomy layer on top of the standard CV-risk-to-brain-aging pipeline.

• 2026

  Regional brain atrophy mediates age effects on words recognition in noise in adults

  Ashjaei, Fridriksson, Bonilha, Newman-Norlund, R.D., …. NeuroImage, 334. article →

• 2026

  Infratentorial cerebral microbleeds and brain age gap in stroke patients: a cross-sectional neuroimaging study

  R. Pallapothu, Kudaravalli, Newman-Norlund, R.D., S. Pallapothu, Kannan, Kummari, …. GeroScience, 2026. doi →

• 2026

  Gene expression-based lesion-symptom mapping: FOXP2 and language impairments after stroke

  Wilmskoetter, Kristinsson, Rangus, … Newman-Norlund, R.D., … Bonilha. Journal of Neuroscience, 46(3). doi →

• 2026

  Cortical hierarchy and aphasia severity: The sensorimotor–association gradient modulates lesion effects within language-specific networks

  Rangus, Busby, … Newman-Norlund, R., … Bonilha. Communications Biology, 9, 119. doi →

• 2026

  Digital twin model of treatment outcomes in post-stroke aphasia

  Busby, Riccardi, … Newman-Norlund, R., … Bonilha. medRxiv (preprint). doi →

• 2025

  Lesion-Symptom Mapping of Acute Speech Deficits After Left vs. Right Hemisphere Stroke: A Retrospective Analysis of NIHSS Best Language Scores and Clinical Neuroimaging

  Sherzad, Newman-Norlund, R.D., Absher, Bonilha, Rorden, Fridriksson, Kristinsson. Brain Sciences, 15(12), 1329. doi →

• 2025

  Beyond the cortex: Cerebellar contributions to apraxia of speech in stroke survivors

  Gibson, Maydeu-Olivares, Newman-Norlund, R., Rorden. Cortex, 191, 1–11. doi →

• 2025

  Dietary fiber intake and hippocampal gray matter volume

  Pallapothu, Newman-Norlund, R.D., Gibson, … Fridriksson. Frontiers in Nutrition, 12. doi →

• 2025

  Damage to white matter networks from small vessel disease and effects on cognitive function

  Busby, Wilmskoetter, Newman-Norlund, R., … Bonilha. Scientific Reports, 15. doi →

• 2025

  Advanced brain aging mediates cardiovascular health and aphasia severity in chronic stroke

  Busby, Rangus, … Newman-Norlund, R., … Bonilha. Aging Brain, 8. doi →

• 2025

  Association between cardiovascular disease risk, regional brain age gap, and cognition in healthy adults

  Pallapothu, Newman-Norlund, R.D., … Rorden. Frontiers in Aging Neuroscience, 17. doi →

• 2025

  Gray matter volume as a mediator of the relationship between age-related hearing and cognitive function

  Nemati, Newman-Norlund, R., Newman-Norlund, S., … Fridriksson. Neuroscience, 590. doi →

• 2025

  Temporoparietal brain structures support sentence processing across the adult lifespan

  Riccardi, … Newman-Norlund, R., … Matchin. Imaging Neuroscience, 3. doi →

• 2025

  Neural predictors for generalization of treatment to discourse in chronic post-stroke aphasia

  Giglio, … Newman-Norlund, R., … den Ouden. Neurobiology of Language, 6. doi →

• 2025

  Pulse pressure, white matter hyperintensities, and cognition across the adult lifespan

  Hannan, Newman-Norlund, S., … Newman-Norlund, R., … Riccardi. Annals of Clinical and Translational Neurology, 12(8).

• 2025

  White matter integrity of hearing and cognitive impairments in healthy aging

  Nemati, … Newman-Norlund, R.D., … Fridriksson. NeuroImage, 310.

• 2025

  Impact of white matter hyperintensities on nonverbal cognition through structural disconnections

  Rangus, … Newman-Norlund, R., … Bonilha. Stroke, 56(6).

• 2025

  White matter hyperintensities mediate the negative impact of HbA1c on cognitive function

  Johnstone, … Newman-Norlund, R., … Bonilha. Brain Sciences, 15(7). doi →

• 2025

  Harnessing team science in dementia research: Insights from the SC ADRC

  Akter, … Newman-Norlund, R., … Friedman. J. Alzheimer's Disease Reports, 9. doi →

• 2025

  Perceived stigma mediates regional gray matter volume and aggressive behavior in children affected by parental HIV/AIDS

  Huang, Qian, Newman-Norlund, R.D., Zhao, Li. AIDS Care, 37(11). doi →

• 2024

  Distinct brain morphometry patterns revealed by deep learning improve prediction of aphasia severity

  Teghipco, Newman-Norlund, R., Fridriksson, Rorden, Bonilha. Communications Medicine (Nature). Read →

• 2024

  The Aphasia Recovery Cohort: An open-source chronic stroke repository

  Gibson, Newman-Norlund, R.D., … Rorden. Scientific Data (Nature), 11(1), 981. Read →

• 2024

  The stroke outcome optimization project: Acute ischemic strokes from a comprehensive stroke center

  Absher, … Newman-Norlund, R.D., … Rorden. Scientific Data (Nature), 11(9).

• 2024

  Regional brain aging: premature aging of the domain general system predicts aphasia severity

  Busby, … Newman-Norlund, R.D., … Fridriksson. Communications Biology (Nature), 7, 718. Read →

• 2024

  Brainchop: Providing an edge ecosystem for deployment of neuroimaging AI models

  Plis, … Newman-Norlund, R.D., Rorden. Aperture Neuro.

• 2024

  Cerebellar atrophy and language processing in chronic left-hemisphere stroke

  Newman-Norlund, R.D., Teghipco, Johnson, Gibson, Bonilha, Rorden, Fridriksson. Neurobiology of Language.

• 2024

  Exploring the link between tooth loss, cognitive function, and brain wellness in healthy aging

  Newman-Norlund, R.D., Kudravalli, Merchant, Fridriksson, Rorden. Journal of Periodontal Research.

• 2024

  Progressive lesion necrosis is related to increasing aphasia severity in chronic stroke

  Johnson, Newman-Norlund, R., Teghipco, Rorden, Bonilha, Fridriksson. NeuroImage: Clinical, 41.

• 2024

  Improving 3D edge detection for visual inspection of MRI coregistration and alignment

  Rorden, Hanayik, Glen, Newman-Norlund, R.D., Drake, Fridriksson, Taylor. Journal of Neuroscience Methods, 406.

• 2024

  Long-range white matter fibers and post-stroke verbal and non-verbal cognition

  Roth, … Newman-Norlund, R.D., … Bonilha. Brain Communications.

• 2024

  Age-related hearing loss, cognitive decline, and social interaction: Testing a framework

  Arjmandi, Neils-Strunjas, Nemati, Newman-Norlund, S., Newman-Norlund, R.D., Bonilha, Fridriksson. JSLHR.

• 2024

  Story recall in a peer conflict resolution discourse task to identify cognitive decline in older adults

  Wilson, Teghipco, Sayers, Newman-Norlund, R.D., Newman-Norlund, S., Fridriksson. American Journal of Speech Language Pathology.

• 2024

  Effects of hyperdirect pathway theta-burst TMS on inhibitory control, craving, and smoking

  Upton, … Newman-Norlund, R., … Froeliger. Biological Psychiatry: CNNI, 8(11).

• 2023

  Advanced brain age and chronic poststroke aphasia severity

  Busby, … Newman-Norlund, R.D., … Bonilha. Neurology, 100(11). Read →

• 2023

  White matter hyperintensity load mediates the relationship between age and cognition

  Busby, Wilson, … Newman-Norlund, R.D., … Bonilha. Neurobiology of Aging, 132, 56–66.

• 2023

  Lower socioeconomic status is associated with premature brain aging

  Busby, Newman-Norlund, S., … Newman-Norlund, R.D., … Bonilha. Neurobiology of Aging, 130, 135–140.

• 2023

  Cerebral blood flow in patients recovered from mild COVID-19

  Sen, Newman-Norlund, R., Riccardi, … Logue. Journal of Neuroimaging, 33(5), 764–772.

• 2023

  Diabetes, brain health, and treatment gains in post-stroke aphasia

  Roth, … Newman-Norlund, R.D., … Bonilha. Cerebral Cortex, 33(2).

• 2023

  Longitudinal progression of white matter hyperintensity severity in chronic stroke aphasia

  Busby, Newman-Norlund, R., … Bonilha. Archives of Rehabilitation Research and Clinical Translation, 5(4).

• 2023

  Comparing the brain-behaviour relationship in acute and chronic stroke aphasia

  Busby, … Newman-Norlund, R., … Fridriksson. Brain Communications, 5(2).

• 2023

  White matter hyperintensity load independent from stroke lesion is associated with chronic aphasia

  Busby, … Newman-Norlund, R.D., … Bonilha. Stroke.

• 2022

  Effects of social isolation on quality of life in elderly adults

  Newman-Norlund, R.D., Newman-Norlund, S., Sayers, McLain, Riccardi, Fridriksson. PLoS ONE, 17(11).

• 2022

  Brain age predicts long-term recovery in post-stroke aphasia

  Kristinsson, … Newman-Norlund, R.D., … Fridriksson. Brain Communications, 4(5).

• 2022

  White matter hyperintensity load is associated with brain aging

  Busby, Newman-Norlund, S., … Newman-Norlund, R., … Bonilha. Aging, 14(23).

• 2022

  Neural activity during imagery supports three imagery abilities as measured by the MIQ-3

  Seiler, Monsma, Newman-Norlund, R.D., Sacko. JSEP, 44(5).

• 2022

  Predictors of therapy response in chronic aphasia: Building a foundation for personalized aphasia therapy

  Kristinsson, Den Ouden, Rorden, Newman-Norlund, R.D., Neils-Strunjas, Fridriksson. Journal of Stroke, 24(2).

• 2022

  Predictors beyond the lesion: Health and demographic factors associated with aphasia severity

  Johnson, Nemati, Bonilha, … Newman-Norlund, R.D., Hillis. Cortex, 154, 375–389.

• 2022

  Low normal FMR1 genotype in older adult women: Psychological well-being and motor function

  Klusek, Newman-Norlund, R., … Fridriksson. Archives of Gerontology and Geriatrics, 103.

• 2021

  The Aging Brain Cohort (ABC) repository: USC's multimodal lifespan database

  Newman-Norlund, R.D., Newman-Norlund, S., Sayers, Nemati, Riccardi, Rorden, Fridriksson. NeuroImage: Reports, 1(1). doi →

• 2021

  Functional connectivity and speech entrainment improves connectivity between anterior and posterior cortical speech areas in non-fluent aphasia

  Johnson, Yourganov, Basilakos, Newman-Norlund, R.D., … Fridriksson. Neural Rehabilitation and Repair.

• 2020

  Machine learning-based multimodal prediction of language outcomes in chronic aphasia

  Kristinsson, Zhang, Rorden, Newman-Norlund, R.D., … Fridriksson. Human Brain Mapping.

• 2020

  Dissociable effects of theta-burst rTMS to the inferior frontal gyrus on inhibitory control in nicotine addiction

  Newman-Norlund, R.D., Gibson, McConnell, Froeliger. Frontiers in Psychiatry, 11, 260. doi →

• 2020

  Cortical and subcortical changes following sphenopalatine ganglion blocks in chronic migraine

  Newman-Norlund, R.D., Rorden, Maleki, … Women's Midlife Health, 6, 7. doi →

• 2020

  DTI indicators of white matter injury are correlated with a multimodal EEG-based biomarker in slow recovering concussed athletes

  Wilde, … Newman-Norlund, R.D., … Levin. Journal of Neurotrauma, 37, 19.

• 2019

  Impaired frontostriatal functional connectivity among chronic opioid using pain patients is associated with dysregulated affect

  McConnell, Garland, Zubieta, Newman-Norlund, R.D., Powers, Froeliger. Addiction Biology.

• 2019

  Visual simultaneity judgments activate a bilateral frontoparietal timing system

  Hanayik, Grigori, Newman-Norlund, R.D., Gibson, Rorden. Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience, 31(3).

• 2018

  Smokers' neurological responses to novel and repeated health warning labels from cigarette packages

  Fridriksson, Rorden, Newman-Norlund, R.D., Froeliger, Thrasher. Frontiers in Psychiatry, 9.

• 2018

  Central executive and default mode network intra-network functional connectivity patterns in chronic migraine

  Androulakis, Krebs, Finkel, Rorden, Newman-Norlund, R.D., Jenkins, Maleki. Journal of Neurological Disorders, 6.

• 2017

  Inter-individual neural differences in movement imagery abilities

  Seiler, Newman-Norlund, R.D., Monsma. Psychology of Sport and Exercise, 30.

• 2017

  Cortical substrate of supraspinal fatigue following exhaustive aerobic exercise

  Herath, Carmichael, Murphy, Bonilha, Newman-Norlund, R.D., Rorden, Davis. Frontiers in Neurology, 8, 483.

• 2016

  Neural response to pictorial health warning labels can predict smoking behavior change

  Riddle, Newman-Norlund, R.D., Thrasher. Social Cognitive and Affective Neuroscience, 11.

• 2015

  Biological evidence of imagery abilities: Intra-individual differences

  Seiler, Monsma, Newman-Norlund, R.D. JSEP, 37.

• 2014

  Neural biomarkers for assessing the effects of different types of imagery in pictorial health warning labels for cigarette packaging

  Newman-Norlund, R.D., Thrasher, Fridriksson, Brixius, Froeliger, Hammond, Cummings. BMJ Open.

• 2014

  Enhanced motor skill acquisition in the non-dominant upper extremity using iTBS and anodal tDCS

  Butts, Newman-Norlund, Kolar. Frontiers in Human Neuroscience.

• 2014

  Functional correlates of increasing gestural articulatory fluency using a miniature second-language approach

  Newman-Norlund, R.D. Folia Phoniatrica et Logopaedica, 65.

• 2013

  Human mirror neuron system specific differences in resting-state functional connectivity in Democrats and Republicans

  Newman-Norlund, R.D., Burch, Becofsky. Journal of Behavioral and Brain Science, 3(4).

• 2012

  Interplay between action movement intentions during social interaction

  Ondobaka, de Lange, Newman-Norlund, R., Bekkering. Psychological Science, 23.

• 2011

  Simulation during observation of human actions - theories, empirical studies, applications

  Zentgraf, Munzert, Bischoff, Newman-Norlund, R.D. Vision Research, 51.

• 2010

  The role of inferior frontal and parietal areas in differentiating meaningful and meaningless object-directed actions

  Newman-Norlund, R.D., van Schie, van Hoek, Cuijpers, van Elk, Bekkering. Brain Research, 1315.

• 2010

  Virtual lesions of the dorsal pars opercularis abolish response facilitation for biological and non-biological cues

  Newman-Norlund, R.D., Ondobaka, van Schie, van Elswijk, Bekkering. Frontiers in Behavioral Neuroscience, 4:5.

• 2010

  Exploring the cognitive infrastructure of communication

  De Ruiter, Noordzij, Newman-Norlund, S., Newman-Norlund, R.D., Hagoort, Levinson, Toni. Interaction Studies, 11(1).

• 2009

  Recipient design in tacit communication

  Newman-Norlund, S., Noordzij, Newman-Norlund, R.D., Volman, Hagoort, Toni. Cognition, 111.

• 2009

  Empathic modulation of error related brain activity during observation of penalty shots between friend and foe

  Newman-Norlund, R.D., Ganesh, van Schie, de Bruijn, Bekkering. Social Cognitive and Affective Neuroscience, 4.

• 2008

  Anatomical substrates of cooperative joint action in a continuous motor task

  Newman-Norlund, R.D., Meulenbroek, Bekkering. NeuroImage, 41.

• 2007

  The human mirror neuron system more active during complementary compared with imitative action

  Newman-Norlund, R.D., van Schie, van Zuijlen, Bekkering. Nature Neuroscience, 10, 817–818. Read →

• 2007

  Exploring the brain basis of joint action: Coordination of actions, goals, and intentions

  Newman-Norlund, R.D., Noordzij, Meulenbroek, Bekkering. Social Neuroscience, 2.

• 2006

  Anatomical substrates of visual and auditory miniature second-language learning

  Newman-Norlund, R.D., Johnson-Frey, Grafton. Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience, 18.

• 2005

  A distributed network in the left cerebral hemisphere for planning everyday tool use skills

  Johnson-Frey, Newman-Norlund, R.D., Grafton. Cerebral Cortex, 15.

• 2005

  Cortical topography of human anterior intraparietal cortex active during visually guided grasping

  Johnson-Frey, Vinton, Newman-Norlund, R.D., Grafton. Cognitive Brain Research, 23.

• 2003

  Actions or hand-object interactions? Human inferior frontal cortex and action observation

  Johnson-Frey, Maloof, Newman-Norlund, R.D., Farrer, Inati, Grafton. Neuron, 39.