Research

My research is concerned with the cognitive and physiological underpinnings of two capacities that make us characteristically human and able to communicate with each other: our abilities to produce and perceive speech.

I am particularly interested in furthering the development of computational and mathematical models of the human speech production and perception faculties that can bridge the gap between symbolic/cognitive and dynamic/physical theories of cognition. My ultimate goal is to  better understand the roots of the astounding variation observed within and across spoken communication systems and their acquisition, variation, and change at different timescales. 

To accomplish this, I develop computational and mathematical models of the speech production and perception faculties on the basis of experimental (and sometimes corpus) data obtained using a variety of methodologies; for example, audio recordings and articulatory tracking methods, like Electromagnetic Articulography (EMA), Ultrasound Imaging (UI), and Magnetic Resonance Imagining (rt-MRI).

I have been working with a variety of typical and non-typical populations hailing from different linguistic communities across the globe.

My work has been possible thanks to collaborative efforts and support and help of many incredible individuals and institutions over the years.