We study similar learning, memory, and motor issues in the production of speech. The types of questions addressed include:
- How listeners react to other speakers
- How priming of speech characteristics influences production and perception
- Whether memory is better for speech that is similar in prosody to one's own
- How communicative constraints differ in speech and music
Speakers wear head-mounted microphones while reading or listening to speech over headphones. Recordings are analyzed in terms of the acoustic variables of pitch, stress, and intonation, similar to how the same expressive features in music performances are analyzed in the lab. Future work compares behavioural measures of prosody to neurological functions in EEG measurements.