Sound Learning

Our group seeks to understand how humans learn and process the building blocks of language: its sounds and words.
How do children become and remain such expert listeners in their native language, and why is listening and speaking often so much harder in a nonnative language? How are words learned, remembered, recognized and produced in first and second languages? A key concept that we investigate is plasticity in speech processing: As listeners, we are continuously tuning in to speech (e.g. to the characteristics of individual talkers and to the demands of different listening contexts), and we go on learning new words throughout our lives.
Research in the group bridges across disciplines: cognitive psychology, linguistics, phonetics, neuroscience, and educational science. We use behavioral, neuroscientific and computational approaches to examine language processing in adults and children. We ask how learning about speech supports the primary language skills: speaking and listening. We also seek ways to apply knowledge about how sounds and words are learned in native and nonnative language to improve language education (e.g. learning nonnative speech sounds, literacy education).