Principal Investigator
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Emily Myers, Professor, Lab PIDepartment of Speech, Language, and Hearing Sciences I’m 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. I received my Ph.D. in Cognitive Science from Brown University in 2005. My primary appointment is in Speech, Language, and Hearing Sciences, with a joint appointment in Psychological Sciences. I also serve as co-director (with Inge-Marie Eigsti) of the NIH-funded T32 training program, CNC-CT, which supports predoctoral and postdoctoral scholars studying the cognitive neuroscience of communication. My 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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Bhamini Sharma is a Postdoctoral Research Associate in the Department of Speech, Language, and Hearing Sciences. With her primary interest in the area of speech perception, her goal is to examine the neurophysiological aspects of speech perception in typical and atypical populations. She received her PhD in Linguistics, MSc in Audiology, and BSc in Speech and Hearing Sciences. |
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Sara Guediche is a postdoctoral research associate in Speech, Language and Hearing Sciences. Her research applies behavioral and functional magnetic resonance imaging methods to investigate the neural systems that support speech and language processing. She received her Ph.D from the Center for Neuroscience at the University of Pittsburgh (CNUP) under the supervision of Dr. Fiez. Her interdisciplinary training, through the Center for the Neural Basis of Cognition, led to a collaborative dissertation project on adaptive plasticity to distorted speech with Dr. Holt’s lab, at Carnegie Mellon University. Upon completion of her Ph.D, Dr. Guediche joined Dr. Blumstein’s lab, at Brown University where she examined flexibility in the perception of ambiguous acoustic-phonetic contrasts and word recognition, in noise. She then moved to Spain to work with Dr. Arthur Samuel’s lab at the Basque Center on Cognition, Brain and Language where was awarded an Individual Marie Sklodowska-Curie fellowship to explore her research interests, in bilingual populations. |
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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 a 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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Naomi Sellers is a Ph.D. student is Psychology who is interested in how input prediction and language error processing offer ways to study the intersection between language production and comprehension, and in how these processes vary across individuals. With a desire for clinical application, she wonders if language errors could give unique insights not only as a bridge between production and comprehension, but also as a bridge between normative and impaired language processing. She received a B.A. in Linguistics and in English from Regis University in 2018. |
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Portia Washington is a Ph.D. student in Psychology who is interested in how both auditory and written language comprehension are affected after individuals experience brain injuries, particularly strokes. She hopes to explore the ongoing role of neuroplasticity during the later stages of post-stroke recovery. As a McNair alum she is passionate about pursuing culturally responsive questions, and serving the greater community through research. She received a B.S. in Psychology from the University of North Carolina at Greensboro in 2021, where she worked on syntax and bilingual processing. |
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Hannah Olson is the current lab manager. Hannah received her M.S. in Neuroscience from the University of Hartford in 2020 and her B.A. in Psychology at the University of Wisconsin-La Crosse. She previously completed her master’s thesis on accent imitation and voice switching in the LAB Lab. Her research interests include neuropsychology and psychological disorders, and she enjoys working with a variety of clinical populations. |
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Matt Phillips is a graduate research assistant in the Language and Brain Lab pursuing his master’s degree in Speech-Language Pathology. His research interests in the lab have included non-native speech sound learning, individual differences in speech perception, and stuttering. He received his BA from UConn in 2022, double majoring in Speech, Language, and Hearing Sciences & Psychology. After obtaining clinical certification as an SLP, he plans on obtaining a PhD specializing in stuttering. |
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Ashley Lombardi is a research assistant in the Auditory Brain Research Lab and Language and Brain Lab interested in better understanding the brain in monolingual and bilingual speakers. Her research interests include individual differences in speech perception and native and non-native language acquisition. Ashley graduated from UConn in the fall of 2020 with a B.A. in Speech, Language, and Hearing Sciences & Spanish. After working for a year in Zaragoza, Spain, she has returned to UConn to pursue her research interests while applying for a clinical Speech-Language Pathology master’s program with a bilingual emphasis. |
Undergraduate Research Assistants
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Arden Ricciardone is a senior in the Honors Program, majoring in Speech, Language and Hearing Sciences, with a minor in Human Development and Family Sciences. Her primary research interests include mild traumatic brain injuries and non-native speech perception. After graduating, Arden plans on pursuing her master’s degree in speech-language pathology. |
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Michelle Shavnya is a senior at UConn majoring in Speech, Language, and Hearing Sciences and minoring in Psychology. Because she is bilingual, she wants to explore how this population perceives speech sounds. She is also excited to further her interests by working in the LAB Lab. After graduation, she plans to attend a master’s program for speech-language pathology. |
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Daniella Bryson is a senior at UConn majoring in Cognitive Science. She is interested in learning more about the effects of aphasia and brain imaging techniques. After graduating, Daniella plans on applying to graduate programs to expand her opportunities. |
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Mikaela Puzzo is a senior double majoring in Speech, Language, and Hearing Sciences and Psychological Sciences. She is interested in studying how the brain processes speech, specifically, how the brain is able to adapt in order to process speech after a traumatic brain injury/stroke. After graduation, she intends to continue her education and pursue her master’s degree in speech-language pathology. |
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Elizabeth Teskey is a junior majoring in speech, language and hearing sciences, and double minoring in cognitive science and psychology. She is interested in how language disorders and brain trauma can impact the production of speech. She is also interested in how developmental disorders play a role in children learning how to communicate. After graduation, Elizabeth plans on pursuing her masters degree in either speech pathology or audiology. |
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Caitlyn Sodergren is a junior at UConn majoring in Speech Language and Hearing Sciences with a minor in psychology. She is really interested in how the brain works to produce language and how brain injuries impact our ability to process and produce speech. After graduating, Caitlyn hopes to further her education by pursuing a master’s degree in speech-language pathology. |
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Kavita Srirangam is a junior majoring in cognitive sciences and double minoring in computer science and psychology. She is interested in human cognition, specifically how it plays into speech and memory. She is also interested in artificial intelligence and how human cognition correlates to it. After graduation, Kavita plans on going to graduate school for neuropsychology or artificial intelligence. |
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Ava Sheard is a sophomore at UConn majoring in Speech, Language and Hearing sciences and minoring in Human Development and Family Studies. She is interested in the relationship between language disorders and the brain, and wishes to learn more about brain imaging. After graduation, she plans on attending graduate school for speech-language pathology. |