Research

Bilingualism

We study how learners contend with multiple patterns in their input. How do bilinguals come to understand that there is more than one set of statistics that needs to be acquired? Moreover, do bilinguals differ in how they track statistics relative to monolinguals?

Comparative Research Approach

We study select topics pertaining to cognition and nonspecific communication in nonhuman primates. Our recent research focuses on understanding the evolutionary roots of motor planning with the larger goal of understanding whether serial ordering of action sequences conforms to the same biases found in language production.

Language and Motor Planning

This area of our research focuses on the similarities and differences between language and action planning; many of the sequencing biases that we observe in language production may also be seen in motor planning.

Statistical Learning

An important component of language acquisition is the ability to track regularities in sensory input. Our lab explores many facets of these abilities in people of all ages from infants through older adults.