[citation needed] In 1999, she returned to University of California, San Diego as an assistant professor in the Cognitive Science department.
[9] The article, "Humor and Handedness", discussed her use of jokes as a high-level language input to investigate brain response differences between left- and right-handed individuals.
For 2020–2021, she collaborated on two projects titled "Investigating the Role of Rhythmic Cortical Activity in Processing of Hierarchically Organized Linguistic and Non-linguistic Sequences in Humans and Rats" and "Auditory deviance detection in single cells, local field potentials, and extracranial EEG".
Most recently, Coulson and other UCSD Cognitive Science department members Ana Chkaidze, Anastasia Kiyonga, and Lera Boroditsky were awarded an Innovative Research Grant for 2022-2023.
Coulson continues to publish research expanding upon the framework of conceptual blending through use of measuring event-related potential's (ERPs) with electroencephalography (EEG).
Coulson has used ERP methods to investigate many linguistic concepts and has published on topics such as iconic gestures,[14] joke comprehension,[15] and understanding irony.
[21] Her work has advanced how scientists understand perceptual organization syntesthetes, including the contextual congruity and potential bi-directionality of colors and numbers.