Talks, News Coverage, and Conferences

The conversations our research has joined: academic, public, and everywhere in between.

Talks
News

Invited Talks

— 2026 —

Talk Voice and Stancetaking: Understanding the "How", "When" and "Who" · Location Faculty of Psychology, University of Barcelona (HUM.AI.N-ACCENT, Marie Skłodowska-Curie DN), Sala de Graus, Barcelona, Spain · 20 May 2026 · Website Event website

— 2023 —

Talk Communicating stance: A socio-affective function of the voice · Location Society for Affective Sciences — Invited symposium on 'The Neglected Senses', Long Beach, California, USA · 2023

Talk How does the voice guide interpersonal communication? · Location Canadian Society for Brain, Behaviour and Cognitive Science — Symposium on 'Emotional context and human communication', University of Guelph, Ontario, Canada · 2023

— 2022 —

Talk On-line effects of speaker accent on social-pragmatic interpretations of language · Location European Society for Cognitive Psychology — Symposium on 'Impact of foreign-accented speech on language processing and social behaviour' · 2022

Talk Prosody as a beacon for understanding a speaker's stance and intentions · Location Aix-Marseille University, Laboratoire Parole et Langage, Aix-en-Provence, France · 2022

Talk How does voice information guide pragmatic language processing? · Location XPrag (Experimental Pragmatics) Conference, Pavia, Italy · 2022

— 2021 —

Talk Tracking the dynamic effects of prosody on speaker meaning · Location XV International Symposium on Psycholinguistics, Virtual · 2021

— 2020 —

Talk How Parkinson's disease affects speech prosody · Location Brazilian Association of Linguistics — Online roundtable on 'Prosody and Pathology' (Covid-19), Online · 2020

— 2019 —

Talk Tracking socio-affective meanings in the voice · Location University of Stockholm, Department of Psychology, Stockholm, Sweden · 2019

Talk Neurocognitive mechanisms for interpreting a speaker's tone of voice · Location Montreal Neurological Institute — Cognition and Circuits Speaker Series, Montréal, QC, Canada · 2019

— 2018 —

Talk Prosody as a window into speaker emotions · Location Acoustical Society of America — Special Session on 'The Sound of Emotions', Victoria, BC, Canada · 2018

Talk Communicating emotion and interpersonal stance through tone of voice · Location McGill University, Department of Psychology, Montréal, QC, Canada · 2018

Talk Communicating emotion and mental states through tone of voice · Location Université de Montréal — CERNEC / Department of Psychology, Montréal, QC, Canada · 2018

— 2016 —

Talk Emotions in and out of language · Location Consortium for European Researchers on Emotion — Symposium on 'Non-linguistic vocalizations: An emerging research field', Leiden, Netherlands · 2016

Talk Vocal communication of emotions…and beyond · Location New York University, Department of Communication Sciences & Disorders, New York, NY, USA · 2016

Talk The Voice of Confidence · Location Society for Personality and Social Psychology — Symposium on 'The Social Voice', San Diego, CA, USA · 2016

— 2015 —

Talk Vocal communication in Parkinson's disease · Location International Society for Research on Emotions — Symposium on 'Recognizing emotions from voices', Geneva, Switzerland · 2015

Talk Neurophysiological responses to vocal emotions in and out of speech · Location Social & Affective Neuroscience Society — Symposium on 'Emotion and Perception', Boston, MA, USA · 2015

— 2012 —

Talk Effects of Parkinson's disease on language and social skills · Location University of Western Ontario, School of Communication Sciences and Disorders, London, ON, Canada · 2012

— 2011 —

Talk A question of time: how emotions unfold through speech prosody · Location Endo-Neuro-Psycho Conference — Symposium on 'The Neurocognitive Basis of Prosodic Processing', Lunteren, Netherlands · 2011

Talk Emotional Speech · Location McGill University, School of Communication Sciences and Disorders, Montréal, QC, Canada · 2011

— 2010 —

Talk Social, cognitive, and neural dimensions of vocal emotion processing · Location Symposium on 'Evolution of Emotional Communication: from Sounds in Nonhuman Mammals to Speech and Music in Man', Ulm, Germany · 2010

Talk On the time course of vocal emotion processing · Location Hannover Medical School, Dept. of Neurology and Clinical Neurophysiology, Hannover, Germany · 2010

— 2008 —

Talk Social implications of communicating with Parkinson's disease · Location International symposium on 'Emotional communication in Parkinson's disease', Dresden, Germany · 2008

— 2007 —

Talk Communicating with the right side of the brain · Location Brain Awareness Week Public Lecture — Montreal Neurological Institute, Montréal, QC, Canada · 2007

Talk How the brain processes emotion from speech · Location McGill Centre for Research on Language, Mind and Brain, Montréal, QC, Canada · 2007

Talk Effects of Parkinson's disease on language and nonverbal processing · Location Brock University, Dept. of Applied Linguistics, St. Catherines, ON, Canada · 2007

— 2006 —

Talk Effects of Parkinson's disease on speech prosody · Location University Hospital of Zurich, Dept. of Neurology, Zurich, Switzerland · 2006

Talk Deficits in the vocal communication of emotion following brain damage · Location Symposium on 'The multi-faceted means of emotional expression', Zurich, Switzerland · 2006

— 2005 —

Talk The impact of Parkinson's disease on communication: a progress report · Location Dorval Parkinson's Management Group, Dorval, QC, Canada · 2005

— 2004 —

Talk Sensitivity to emotive features of prosody in patients with acquired brain damage: off-line and on-line evidence · Location Max Planck Institute for Human Cognitive & Brain Sciences — Workshop on 'Brain Correlates of Emotional Perception in Communication', Leipzig, Germany · 2004

Talk Interpreting emotional prosody in the adult brain: insights for development · Location Symposium on 'Understanding developmental changes in perception of emotion in speech: a converging methods approach', Ghent, Belgium · 2004

Talk Judgements of emotion and attitude from prosody by brain-damaged adults · Location Heidelberger Academy of Science and Humanities, Konstanz, Germany · 2004

Talk Continuing challenges in the study of emotional prosody in the brain · Location Symposium on 'Understanding Emotions: Insights into Cerebral Representation of Emotional Communication' (Invited Discussant), Konstanz, Germany · 2004

— 2003 —

Talk Name that tone: how humans infer emotion from a speaker's 'tone of voice' · Location Northwestern University, Dept. of Communication Sciences & Disorders, Evanston, IL, USA · 2003

— 2002 —

Talk Communicating without the right hemisphere · Location Eighth Annual Inter Hospital Stroke Team Conference: Contemporary Issues in Stroke Management, Montréal, QC, Canada · 2002

Talk Subcortical contributions to socio-emotive judgements of prosody · Location Cambridge University, MRC Cognition and Brain Sciences Unit — Workshop on 'Neurobiology of Communication: comparative and evolutionary perspectives on receptive language', Cambridge, UK · 2002

Talk Emotional prosody and the brain: insights from patients · Location Max Planck Institute of Cognitive Neuroscience, Leipzig, Germany · 2002

Talk Surveying emotional prosody in the brain · Location Speech Prosody Conference — Symposium on 'Prosody and the Brain', Aix-en-Provence, France · 2002

— 2001 —

Talk Comprehension of nonverbal signals in Parkinson's disease: further characterization of the cognitive aspects of a motor disorder · Location McGill University, School of Physical & Occupational Therapy, Montréal, QC, Canada · 2001

Talk Emotive communication in early Parkinson's disease · Location New York University, School of Education, New York, NY, USA · 2001

Talk Nonverbal communication of emotion in adults with brain damage · Location Centre de Recherche Institut de Gériatrie de Montréal, Montréal, QC, Canada · 2001

— 1997 —

Talk Effects of unilateral brain damage on emotion expression · Location UBC, School of Audiology & Speech Sciences, Vancouver, BC, Canada · 1997

— 1993 —

Talk The ability to perceive and comprehend intonation in linguistic and affective contexts by brain-damaged adults · Location McGill University, School of Human Communication Disorders, Montréal, QC, Canada · 1993

News Coverage

Click any research topic below to see related media coverage.

On how having an accent affects trust...

Public news release (McGill University)

K. Gombay · 13 September 2018 · Do we trust people who speak with an accent? · McGill Newsroom

Radio broadcasts/podcasts

G. Kahn · 11 February 2020 · A tell-tale accent and a whispering voice: Identities shaped by how we sound · CBC Radio One, The Doc Project (podcast)

L. Huang · 11 October 2018 · Confident tone overcomes accent distrust · Scientific American 60-Second Science (podcast)

28 September 2018 · What can we tell about people with an accent? · The Andrew Carter Morning Show, CJAD 800 AM Radio, Montreal

Television

P. Karwatsky · 20 September 2018 · Do we distrust people with accents? · CTV News Montreal (CTV News at Five / Six)

Karwatsky, P. · 20 September 2018 · Do we distrust people with accents? CTV News at 5 p.m. / CTV News at Six · CTV News Montreal

Print articles

O'Faherty, J. · 16 October 2023 · Does having a non-standard accent impact a person's chances of landing a job? It's complicated, says McGill PhD · McGill Health e-News

Manuguerra-Gagné, R. · 19 January 2023 · Reconnaissez-vous le Québécois qui chiale? · Québec Science

A. Fagan · March 2019 · In the Realm of "Ahh": Voice and style of speech — including pesky filler words — reveal a lot about a speaker · Psychology Today

P. Weston · 18 September 2018 · Are we hardwired to be xenophobic? You are less likely to trust someone who speaks with an accent because humans automatically perceive them as ‘other’ · Daily Mail (UK)

M. Perreault · 1 October 2018 · La méfiance face aux accents: Les gens font moins confiance aux personnes qui ont un accent · La Presse (Quebec)

M. Torres · 27 September 2018 · We trust people with accents less…unless they speak with confidence · Ladders (USA)

Hancok, C. · 24 October 2018 · Un accent étranger sape la confiance de l'interlocuteur · Science & Vie

Perreault, M. · 1 October 2018 · La méfiance face aux accents · La Presse+

Bakar, F. · 19 September 2018 · We trust people with different accents less because we see them as the 'other', say experts · Metro News (UK)

Hays, B. · 18 September 2018 · People are less likely to trust someone with a foreign accent · United Press International (UPI)

Weston, P. · 18 September 2018 · Are we hardwired to be xenophobic? You are less likely to trust someone who speaks with an accent because humans automatically perceive them as 'other', scientists say · Daily Mail (UK)

On how people understand sarcasm and indirect meanings...