Language Control, and Adaptation in Connected Speech
Everyday speech is not simply a succession of correct words. It also contains pauses, repetitions, self-corrections, approximations, circumlocutions, and moments in which speakers abandon or redirect what they intended to say. Rather than treating these phenomena as peripheral imperfections, I study what they reveal about the cognitive mechanisms that make language flexible and adaptive. To investigate these questions, I combine controlled psycholinguistic experiments with connected-speech analysis in more naturalistic situations. My research draws on behavioural measures, eye-tracking, neuropsychological assessment, functional neuroimaging, and computational approaches. I work with neurotypical speakers across the lifespan as well as people with neurodevelopmental or neurodegenerative conditions.
My research program is organized around three complementary research areas:
How are cognitive and neurodegenerative changes expressed in connected speech, and how can communication remain functional despite them?
How do difficulties arising at different stages of speech production lead speakers to pause, repeat, repair, approximate, or produce an error?
How does speech monitoring extend beyond the speaker’s own production processes to include the interlocutor, the interaction, and the social consequences of speaking?