Principal Investigator
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Emily Myers, Associate Professor
Department of Speech, Language, and Hearing Sciences
Dr. Myers is interested in the processes that allow a listener to map the speech signal to meaning, how these processes are instantiated in the brain, and how these processes break down in cases of language disorder. Dr. Myers received her Ph.D. in Cognitive Science from Brown University in 2005.
Current CV. See Research and Publications page for downloads/pdfs.
Office: Phillips Communication Sciences Building 216
Contact: emily.myers@uconn.edu |
Senior Lab Members
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Phoebe Gaston is a CNC-CT post-doctoral fellow in Psychology. Her primary research interest is in how words are represented and recognized from speech. She is particularly interested in how information from sentence contexts can impact word recognition, and the interplay between syntactic and acoustic cues. Phoebe received her Ph.D. in Linguistics from the University of Maryland, College Park (2020) and her B.A. in Linguistics from Yale University (2013), working in between as a lab manager for the Neuroscience of Language Lab at NYU. |
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Sahil Luthra is a Ph.D. student in Psychology and an NSF GFRP and IGERT fellow. His primary interests are in how we represent sounds and words and the factors (e.g., experience with a particular talker, contextual knowledge) that affect our access to these mental representations. He is particularly interested in how multiple representations cooperate and compete with each other over the course of recognizing/producing a word and in how these changes are instantiated neurally in the brain. |
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David Saltzman is a Ph.D. student in Psychology. His primary research interests lays in the representation and implementation of the fine-grained acoustic cues contained in the speech signal, and their corresponding neurobiology. More specifically, he is interested in how listeners aggregate each individual experience with a speech sound to form robust speech sound categories. David received his M.S. in Experimental Psychology from Villanova University in 2016, where he investigated the role of the amplitude-envelope of speech in speaking rate compensation. |
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Hannah Mechtenberg is Ph.D student in Psychology. Her past research interests focused on the frontal lobe and its function in speech perception, and the role of the basal ganglia during category learning. Her current interests are in how analogical reasoning interacts with language processing during learning. She anticipates using behavioral and functional neuroimaging methods to investigate the interplay between these two systems. She received a B.S. in Neuroscience from Colorado State University in 2017, then came to the LAB Lab as a lab manager in 2018. |
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Anne Marie Crinnion is a Ph.D. student in Psychology. Some of her past research focused on computational modeling of acoustic cues. Currently, she is interested in how top-down information is integrated with lower-level acoustic information, from neural, computational, and behavioral perspectives. She received an A.B. from Harvard University in 2020, where she worked on object and letter processing. |
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Cristal Giorio is the lab manager at the LAB Lab. Cristal received her B.S. in Biology, Psychology, and Spanish Literature from Salem College. While at Salem, she assessed ERNs and cognitive control relating to the topic of bilingualism. Her research interests revolve around second language acquisition and language processing alongside neuroimaging techniques. |
Undergraduate Research Assistants
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Matthew Phillips is a junior at UConn double majoring in Speech, Language, and Hearing Sciences & Psychology with a minor in Cognitive Science. Matt is interested in the relationship between musical experience and language/cognition, as well as the perceptual language deficits in people who stutter. He plans on pursuing a joint Master’s/PhD in the field of speech-language pathology. He is also involved with the National Stuttering Association as Teen Program Coordinator. | |||||
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Xinming Zhou is a junior at UConn majoring in Cognitive Science with a minor in Neuroscience. She is interested in exploring the relation between the behavior and its trigger in the brain and hopes to pursue a master/PhD in the field of psychology after graduation. | |||||
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Laura Manuela Morales is a Senior at UConn majoring in Speech, Language, and Hearing Sciences and minoring in Psychology. As of right now, she is interested in both the auditory system and the brain’s role in speech perception, but she is looking to narrow down her interest while being a part of the LAB lab team. Post-undergrad, she will be pursuing an Au.D/Ph.D. dual degree. | |||||
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Lillian Mastrogiovanni is a junior at Uconn double majoring in Speech, Language, and Hearing Sciences & Human Development and Family Studies. She is not quite sure what she is interested in quite yet but hopes to find an interest by being part of the LAB team. After graduating, Lilly intends to receive her Master’s degree in speech-language pathology.
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Sophia Arruda is a senior at UConn double majoring in Biological Sciences and French. Her research interests include bilingualism, language acquisition, and naturalistic speech. Following graduation, she plans to pursue a PhD in the field of behavioral biology. |
Lab Affiliates
| Dr. James Magnuson, Ph.D. |
| Dr. Jennifer Mozeiko, Ph.D. |
| Dr. Carl A. Coelho, Ph.D. |
| Dr. Erika Skoe, Ph.D. |
Lab Alumni (Lab alums: keep in touch! Let us know where you end up!)
Senior Lab Member Alumni Research Assistant Alumni
| Christopher Heffner (Postdoc): Faculty member, University at Buffalo | Ashley Lombardi (former URA) University of Connecticut |
| Pamela Fuhrmeister (PhD, 2020): Postdoc, University of Potsdam |
Triana Feliconio (former URA, 2020 LAB Lab Digest Editor): SLP, New York Medical College |
| Kathrin Rothermich (Postdoc): Faculty member, East Carolina University |
Orly Berkoff (former URA): MS program, TC Columbia University |
| Xin Xie (PhD, 2015): Postdoc, University of Rochester | Alyssa Finuoli (former URA): Graduate program, SUNY New Paltz |
| Jennifer Mozeiko (PhD, 2014): Faculty member, University of Connecticut | Rachel Plant (former URA): SLP program, Southern Connecticut State University |
| Illiana Meza-Gonzales (MA, 2016): Job in the real world! | Madison Perriolat (former URA): SLP program, University of Connecticut |
| Alexis Johns (PhD, 2016): Postdoc, Brandeis | Divya Ganugapati (former URA): MD program, University of Connecticut |
| F. Sayako Earle (PhD, 2016): Faculty member, University of Delaware | Ana Hernandez (former URA): Post-bacc RA at Yale School of Medicine |
| Stephanie N. Del Tufo (PhD, 2016): Faculty, University of Delaware | Erin Kirchner (former URA): MSN program, Northeastern University |
| Karen Aicher (former lab manager): Faculty member, Bridgewater State University | Gillian Foley (former URA): SLP program, Southern Connecticut State University |
| Brianna Schlemmer (former masters RA): Speech-Language Pathologist | |
| Maria Murljacic (2020 honors advisee): SLP program, MGH Boston | |
| Allie Romanowski (former URA): SLPA | |
| Corinne Myjak (former URA): SLP program, Southern Connecticut State University | |
| Laura Mesite(former RA): PhD Program, Harvard |
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| Kristen Swan Tummeltschammer (former RA): Postdoc, Brown University | |
| Julia Drouin (2014 honors advisee): Faculty member, Cal State Fullerton | |
| Brittany Ciullo (2014 honors advisee): Lab manager/RA, Brown University | |
| Elaina Rappaport (former URA): SLP program, University of Connecticut | |
| Rachelle Levasseur(former URA): PhD program, Washington University |