Exploring the format of sensorimotor information in human speech perception

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A hallmark of early speech learning is that infants initially perceive speech well, but do not have correspondingly advanced ways of producing speech until later ages. It thus remains unclear how the commonly observed, and highly interactive links between adult speech perception and production develop. A possibility I will explore with NSERC support is that sensory and motor (sensorimotor) information about non-speech gesturessuch as chewing, sucking, or breathing, which are all gestures produced soon after birthinteract with infant speech perception, which is a precursor of adult-like interactions between speech perception and production. I will also ask whether and how non-speech gesture information may continue to inform adult speech perception.******The long-term goals of my proposed research are a) to understand whether and how sensorimotor information about all types of vocal motor control, speech or non-speech, are linked to speech perception, and b) to understand how the format of this information changes throughout the lifespan. In the short-term I will focus on studying the interactions between speech perception and non-speech gestures like chewing, sucking, or breathing, as these are vocal tract gestures that can be produced by both infants and adults.******Infants from 4 to 18 months of age will be investigated, as this is a period of dramatic developmental change in speech production ability, which my research group will measure using classic tools like parental questionnaires, but also using computational methods (e.g., natural language processing of daylong audio recordings), as well as electromyographical recordings of infants' facial muscle activation. My research group will also explore similar questions in adults, investigating how the more precise elements of breathing or chewing /sucking gestureslike the dynamic properties of lip movements, or the direction and velocity of airflow while breathingaffect adult speech perception. ******This research has important scientific implications for the study of linguistics, speech science, psychology, and neuroscience, because so little is now understood about how early vocal development informs or shapes learning in human speech perception, and vice versa. This work will also have important clinical applications, because understanding interactions between perceptual and motor systems for speech is crucial for distinguishing, diagnosing, and treating speech pathologies with either perceptual or motor origins.