Spoken Language

Speech is a unique evolutionary achievement that has played an enormous role in human development. We investigate how this system works and what the underlying neural mechanisms are.

These investigations focus on a range of questions. For example, using behavioral and EEG techniques, we examine the perceptual encoding of speech and its role in language comprehension and learning.

Using eye-tracking in the visual world paradigm, we examine the activation dynamics of familiar and novel words. We have studies that explore the relationship between speech perception and production, including experiments that reflect the sometimes inhibitory effect one may have on the other.

Ongoing research is testing the role of sleep, exploring some language acquisition cases in which sleep consolidates information, and others in which sleep can help to clear out information that is no longer needed. Collectively, our research efforts are advancing the field’s understanding of spoken language processing.