The research in this lab investigates the cognitive and neural bases of language. Ongoing projects fall in five general areas.
- Normal language acquisition. We study how typically-developing children acquire English and other languages. We also use mobile eye-trackers to study how children understand spoken language. Projects involve testing preschool- and school-aged children and performing transcript studies.
- Abnormal language acquisition. Language acquisition by children with developmental language disorders is compared with language acquisition by normal children. Projects involve testing language-impaired children and transcribing and analyzing their speech.
- Adult language processing. Computer-based and eye-tracking experiments are used to investigate how adults process spoken and written language processing.
- Genetics of language. The language development of Monozygotic (identical) twins is compared with that of dizygotic (nonidentical) twins. Projects involve coding and analyzing spontaneous speech and test data from twins.
- Perinatal factors & development. We are investigating how various prenatal and early postnatal factors affect language development. Projects involve testing children, and coding, entering and analyzing data.
Students who are native speakers of English, Hebrew, Korean, or Turkish are particularly welcomed to participate.
