HST Thesis Research

Language is a uniquely human skill that is extremely complex despite its apparent ease. My research interests are in the cognitive processes and neurological substrates that allow humans to comprehend language. My thesis examined the influence of syntactic working memory on the processing of syntax, the underlying and largely unseen rules that govern the relationships between words in a sentence.

Current Professional Activities

My current interests include the influence of experimental task on syntactic processing and the relationship of spatial processing and language.

Personal Statement about SHBT training

The SHBT program gave me the breadth of education to understand the complete chain of language processing, from comprehension to production, from the transduction of the acoustic signal at the hair cells of the inner ear to the modulation of the laryngeal muscles to adjust pitch. In addition, the program provided a supportive and familial environment that allowed me to fully explore my research interests as I ventured from electrical engineering to linguistics and the human mind.

Link to thesis details