Research in the APLL focuses on the role of attention in speech perception and phonetic learning. We are currently pursuing two distinct, yet related, avenues of research:

1. How is the perception of speech in the presence of competing speech (the "cocktail party" problem) affected by limitation of processing capacity?
2. How does native language experience and/or subsequent training affect the distribution of selective attention to acoustic properties of the speech signal?

Lab Director
Alexander L. Francis, Ph.D. (Associate Professor: SLHS, Linguistics, Psychological Sciences, Center on Aging and the Life Course (CALC)) francisa@purdue.edu

Current Students

Yonit Shames

Research interests:

Undergraduate Students (Current)

Michelle Morgan

Gernise Dixon

Diana True

Brittni Bailey

Alex Gretch

Alumni

Courtney Driscoll, M.S. SLP, Practicing SLP in DeWitt, IA.

Natalya Kaganovich, Ph.D., Postdoctoral Fellow, Purdue University

Yanhong Zhang, Ph.D., Research Associate, University of Pennsylvania

Maria Kondaurova, Ph.D., Postdoctoral Fellow, IU School of Medicine

Katie Connell, B.A., Purdue University, Audiology

Erica Hartland, B.A., University of Pittsburgh, Speech-Language Pathology

Amber Page, B.A., Purdue University, Speech-Language Pathology

• Selective attention and perceptual learning of speech: Investigates listeners' ability to change the distribution of selective attention as a consequence of training to perceive previously imperceptible phonetic contrasts [NIH 1R03DC006811-01].
• Physiological bases of capacity limitations in speech perception: Project in development, investigating the structural, functional and neurochemical bases of attentional limitations in speech perception, focusing on deficits related to aging, dementia, brain injury and hearing impairment. Currently seeking funding.