Erika Exton, PhD

Hello! I am currently a postdoctoral scholar in the Sound Lab in the Department of Linguistics at Northwestern University, where I work with Dr. Matt Goldrick. My current research focuses on speech production in individuals with and without depression, and is funded by a grant from the National Institute of Mental Health to Dr. Stewart Shankman, Dr. Vijay Mittal, and Dr. Matt Goldrick.

I completed my PhD in Hearing and Speech Sciences at the University of Maryland in July 2024, under the supervision of Dr. Rochelle Newman. At Maryland I was a member of the Language Development and Speech Perception lab. I was also a Language Science Fellow in the Maryland Language Science Center. I held a graduate research fellowship through the National Science Foundation and my dissertation work was supported by an NRSA pre-doctoral fellowship from the NIH NICHD. Generally, I am interested in questions about how speech production varies across individuals and populations in systematic ways (i.e. age, number and identity of languages spoken, demands of a particular task, physical, cognitive, and mental status), and how listeners' perception of this variability in production is driven by their own language and developmental background. Check out my specific research interests in the "Research" tab.

My dissertation was titled "Evaluating the role of acoustic cues in identifying the presence of a code-switch." In addition to Dr. Newman, my committee members included Dr. Yi Ting Huang, Dr. Jared Novick, Dr. Nan Bernstein Ratner, and Dr. Bill Idsardi.

In addition to research, I enjoy participating in and developing new methods of science outreach to children. Check out a paper my collaborators at the University of Maryland and I wrote on this topic, as well as our materials and guide to virtual outreach available on OSF. I am also a member of the Bilingualism Matters Chicago childhood bilingualism working group, which supports families and educators who work with bilingual children by providing them with information and resources.

I received my B.S. in Communication Sciences and Disorders and B.A. in Linguistics from Penn State University, with a minor in Mathematics. While at Penn State, I was a member of the Bilingualism and Language Development Lab and the Adult Neuroplasticity Lab. Through an NSF PIRE grant awarded to the Penn State Center for Language Science, I conducted research for my senior honors thesis in Nijmegen, The Netherlands and was mentored by Dr. Janet van Hell and Dr. Chaleece Sandberg. I continue to collaborate with former advisors at Penn State on research related to the work I did as an undergraduate there.