Julia Chauvet

I'm a PhD student working in the Psychology of Language department under the supervision of dr. Andrea E. Martin and prof. dr. Antje S. Meyer.

How do we articulate a thought into a sequence of spoken sounds? In this research, we aim to bring together neurocognitive computational models of lexical access and speech motor control, examining the issues that arise at their interface. By integrating these frameworks into a model of lexical generation, we can uncover several key questions at their interface.  These include: (i) Identifying elements of linguistic planning that are relevant for—and cascade to—motor planning, and understanding their hierarchical relationship. (ii) Determining critical features of the different levels of self-monitoring, the conditions under which they occur, and the interplay between mechanisms of motor control and language monitoring.

We employ theoretical, behavioural, electrophysiological, and computational work to investigate these questions. Preliminary findings from my first project replicate that syllable frequency plays a key role in motor planning, with less frequent syllables resulting in slower reaction times and diverging ERP waveforms during planning. Surprisingly, we observed more variability in speech duration for frequent syllables. In the second chapter, computational work simulates how elements of phonological planning are carried forward from linguistic planning to motor control.