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Despite
the fact that speech communication is a fundamental part of our daily behavior,
its mechanisms are not yet
well understood. In my research, I use a three-tiered
approach to studying speech
perception. Much work focuses on empirical data
collected in perceptual
and learning paradigms with human participants. In addition,
I also examine the behavior
and physiology of non-human animals. This work makes it
possible to address questions
that are unanswerable with human participants. Finally,
the human and non-human
empirical data are complemented by computational
approaches aimed at modeling
these behaviors.
Conceptually, this research
can be divided into two broad categories. One line of work
is aimed at examining mechanisms
by which experience shapes organization of
speech. Well before infants
reach their first birthday, they have begun to perceive
speech sounds in a manner
that has been shaped by their native language community.
On going research is aimed
at discovering the learning mechanisms by which this
developmental milestone
occurs.
The other primary area of
research addresses the perceptual mechanisms by which
complex auditory signals
(like speech) are processed. Through the use of human and
animal perceptual data and
computational models, this research endeavors to explain
the general perceptual factors
that influence speech communication. Recent studies
have investigated how context
affects speech perception.
The questions that arise
from these two areas touch upon some long-debated issues
in cognitive science. For
example, is language acquisition guided by specialized
processes or is it instead
directed by more general mechanisms? Is speech perceived
in a manner that is similar
to the way that we perceive other sounds? Or does it
require specialized language
mechanisms? The goal of this research is to develop
the answers to these central
questions.
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