Integrated multi-measure speech research station

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This equipment proposal will support NSERC-funded research programs and collaborations that are working to understand the development of speech communication during infancy. The hardware and software requested will be used to create an integrated multi-measure research station to study speech perception and production processes. This station will be implemented with existing equipment to integrate behavioural and physiological data and also with new instrumentation for measuring eye movements (requested in this proposal). The important feature of the new station is the capacity to record diverse behavioral and physiological events in synchrony with the same time stamp and to access these data streams for analysis in an integrated way. With the new research station it will be easy to examine moment-to-moment correspondences within and between behavioural (e.g. audio, visual, eye movements) and physiological measures (e.g. heart rate, respiration, brain activity). This tool is useful for investigating speech perception and production processes which involve complex and coordinated vocal, behavioural, social, and physiological processes. With the ability to work with multiple data streams in an integrated way we can also explore speech perception and production processes of a dyad engaged in face-to-face interaction. Our research team will implement this research station to study infant speech perception and production processes in controlled experiments as well as in more naturalistic situations (e.g. mother-infant interaction).