Dr. Spyridoula Cheimariou is a professor and cognitive scientist at Xavier University whose work explores how the brain anticipates meaning–both in everyday language and in poetic form. Her research investigates prediction as a core mechanism not only in language comprehension, but also as a source of aesthetic surprise in metaphor, verse, and narrative. She directs the NeuLanD Lab (Neuroscience of Language and Language Disorders), that uses eye-tracking and behavioral methods to study how people process language in real time. In the Woods, she will be writing a chapter for a book that weaves together psycholinguistics, information theory, and literary analysis to explore how poetry disrupts–and depends on–our brain’s constant effort to predict what comes next.