Gernsbacher has received a Research Career Development Award and a Senior Research Fellowship from the National Institutes of Health, a Fulbright Research Award, a Distinguished Alumni Award from the University of Texas at Dallas, a James Cattell Fellowship, the George Miller Award, a Professional Opportunities for Women Award from the National Science Foundation, the Distinguished Service to Psychological Science Award from the American Psychological Association, the Ernest R. Hilgard Lifetime Achievement Award from the Society for Experimental Psychology and Cognitive Science, the Norman Anderson Lifetime Achievement Award from the Society of Experimental Psychologists, the Distinguished Scientific Contribution Award from the Society for Text and Discourse, the Clifford T. Morgan Distinguished Leadership Award from the Psychonomic Society, a Sloan Foundation Fellowship from Teaching Integrity in Empirical Research, and the Phi Kappa Phi Biennial Scholar Award.

Gernsbacher has served as President of the 25,000-member Association for Psychological Science, President of the Society for Text and Discourse, President of the American Psychological Association’s Division of Experimental Psychology, President of the Foundation for the Advancement of Behavioral and Brain Sciences, Chair of the American Psychological Association’s Board of Scientific Affairs, President of the Society for the Improvement of Psychological Science, Chair of the American Association for the Advancement of Science’s Psychology Section, Chair of the Cognitive Science Society’s Annual Convention, Vice President of the Society for the Teaching of Psychology, advisor for Women in Cognitive Science, member of the Psychonomic Society’s Governing Board, member of the National Science Foundation’s Social, Behavioral, and Economic Sciences Advisory Committee, and member of the American Association for the Advancement of Science’s Scientific Program Committee. She currently serves on the Board of Directors for the American Association for the Advancement of Science.

Gernsbacher is a multiple national award-winning teacher whose open-access, active-learning courses were deemed the American Psychological Association’s 2018 Outstanding Educational Resource. In 1998, Gernsbacher received the Hilldale Award for Distinguished Professional Accomplishment, the highest award bestowed by the University of Wisconsin–Madison faculty. She has served as editor-in-chief of the journal Memory & Cognition, co-editor of Psychological Science in the Public Interest, associate editor of Cognitive Psychology and Language and Cognitive Processes, and has served on numerous editorial boards.

Gernsbacher has delivered the William James Lecture, the Norman Anderson Distinguished Lecture, the Psi Chi Distinguished Lecture, the APS Teaching Institute Distinguished Lecture, the Caskey Distinguished Lecture, the Ricciuti Lecture, the John Kendall Lecture, the Ferne Forman Fisher Lecture, and the APA Distinguished Scientist Lecture. She was also the inaugural Lufkin Honorary Lecturer and the inaugural Evan L. Brown Memorial Lecturer.

For 40 years, Gernsbacher has investigated the cognitive and neural mechanisms that underlie human communication. Her research bears both basic science implications and national policy applications. She has published nearly 200 journal articles and invited chapters. She has authored or edited 10 books. Her research has been funded by the National Institutes of Health, the National Science Foundation, the Department of Defense, the Centers for Disease Control, and several foundations.