Welcome to the Attention and Perceptual Learning Laboratory (APLL)
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:
- How is the perception of speech in the presence of competing speech (the "cocktail party" problem) affected by limitation of processing capacity?
- How does native language experience and/or subsequent training affect the distribution of selective attention to acoustic properties of the speech signal?
Current Lab Members (ca. 2005)
Graduate Students & Dr. Francis
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
Current Projects
- 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.
Return to Alex Francis' home page