Department of Linguistics - Simon Fraser University

Colloquium Series

 

 

Yang Zhang

Assistant Professor, Department of Speech-Language-Hearing Sciences

University of Minnesota

 

 

New perspectives on speech perception and language acquisition

 

Thursday, May 19, 2011

11:30 am, EDB 7600B

Abstract

 

In this talk, I will present behavioral and brain data from adult and infant studies to address three fundamental issues in speech perception and language acquisition. (a) Domain specificity. To what extent does speech processing involve language-specific brain mechanisms? (b). Hemispheric laterality. In what conditions does speech perception show left-hemisphere dominance? (c). Behavior-brain correlates. Are brain measures necessarily predictive of behavioral performance in speech perception?