Selected Publications

Barbara T. Conboy, Ph.D.
Postdoctoral Fellow, Institute for Learning and Brain Sciences

Research Publications

Kuhl, P.K., Conboy, B.T., Coffey-Corina, S., Padden, D., Rivera-Gaxiola, M., & Nelson, T. (2007, in press). Phonetic learning as a pathway to language: New data and Native Language Magnet Theory-expanded (NLM-e). Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B.

Silva-Pereyra, J.F., Conboy, B.T., Klarman, L., & Kuhl, P.K. (2007). Grammatical processing without semantics? An event-related brain potential study of preschoolers using jabberwocky sentences. Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience, 19, 1050-1065.

Conboy, B.T., Sommerville, J., & Kuhl, P.K. (2007). Cognitive control and the transition to native-like speech perception at 11 months.

Conboy, B.T. & Mills, D.L. (2006). Two languages, one developing brain: Effects of vocabulary size on bilingual toddlers’ event-related potentials to auditory words. Developmental Science, 9(1), F1-F11.

Conboy, B.T. & Thal, D. (2006). Ties between the lexicon and grammar: Cross-sectional and longitudinal studies of bilingual toddlers. Child Development,77(3), 712-735.

Kuhl, P.K., Conboy, B.T., Padden, D., Nelson, T., & Pruitt, J. (2005). Early speech perception and later language development: implications for the “critical period.” Language Learning and Development, 1(3&4), 237-264.

Gutierrez-Clellen, V.F., Brown, S., Robinson-Zañartu, C., & Conboy, B. (1998). Modifiability: a dynamic approach to assessing immediate language change. Journal of Children's Communication Development, 19, 31-43.

Books, Book Chapters, Conference Proceedings

Conboy, B.T., Rivera-Gaxiola, M., Silva-Pereyra, J.F., & Kuhl, P.K. (2008, in press). Event-related potential studies of early language processing at the phoneme, word, and sentence levels. In A.D. Friederici & G. Thierry (Eds.), Early language development: bridging brain and behaviour, Trends in language acquisition research series, Vol. 5. Amsterdam/The Netherlands: John Benjamins.

Conboy, B.T. & Kuhl, P.K. (2007). Developing a culturally specific way of listening through social interaction. In S.L. Bråten (Ed.), On being moved – from mirror neurons to empathy. Amsterdam/Philadelphia: John Benjamins Publishing Company.

Jackson-Maldonado, D. & Conboy, B.T. (2007). Utterance length measures for Spanish-speaking toddlers: the morpheme vs. word issue revisited. In J.G. Centeno & L.K. Obler & R. Anderson (Eds.), Studying communication disorders in Spanish speakers: Theoretical, research, & clinical aspects. Clevedon, England: Multilingual Matters Ltd.

Conboy, B.T., Rivera-Gaxiola, M., Silva-Pereyra, J.F., & Kuhl, P.K. (in preparation). Event-related potential studies of early language processing: from phonemes, to words, to sentences. In A.D. Friederici & G. Thierry (Eds.), Early language development: bridging brain and behaviour, Trends in language acquisition research series. Amsterdam/The Netherlands: John Benjamins.

Conboy, B., Rivera-Gaxiola, M., Klarman, L., Aksoylu, E., & Kuhl, P.K. (2005). Associations between native and nonnative speech sound discrimination and language development at the end of the first year. In A. Brugos, MR. Clark-Cotton, & S. Ha (Eds.), Supplement to the Proceedings of the 29th Boston University Conference on Language Development, http://www.bu.edu/linguistics/APPLIED/BUCLD/supp29.html.

Mills, D.L., Conboy, B.T., & Paton, C. (2005). Do changes in brain organization reflect shifts in symbolic functioning? In L. Namy (Ed.) Symbol use and symbolic representation: Developmental/lifespan perspectives (pp. 123-153). Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.

Jackson-Maldonado, D., Thal, D., Marchman, V., Fenson, L., Newton, T., & Conboy, B. (2003). User’s Manual, MacArthur Inventario del Desarrollo de Habilidades Comunicativas. Baltimore: Paul H. Brookes Publishing Co.

Recent Conference Presentations

Conboy, B.T. (2007). Dual language experience in the early years. Workshop presented at the Southwest Conference on Communicative Disorders, University of New Mexico, Albuquerque, March 22, 2007.

Conboy, B.T. & Kuhl, P.K. (2007). ERP mismatch negativity effects in 11-month-old infants after exposure to Spanish. Poster presented at the Biennial Meeting of the Society for Research in Child Development, Boston, March 29-April 1, 2007.

Conboy, B.T., Sommerville, J., Randles, J., Deskines, C., & Kuhl, P.K. (2006). Cognitive influences in infant speech perception. Poster presented at the 152nd meeting of the Acoustical Society of America, Honolulu, November 28 - December 2, 2006.

Klarman, L.N., Rivera-Gaxiola, M., Conboy, B.T., & Kuhl, P.K. (2004). Event-related potentials to speech: individual variation and vocabulary growth. Poster presented at the Society for Neuroscience, San Diego, October 23-27.

Kuhl, P.K. & Conboy, B. (2004). Foreign-language experience in infancy: Effects of social interaction on phonetic learning. Invited paper presented at the Theory Forum Symposium on Foundations of (pre)verbal intersubjectivity in light of new findings, The Norwegian Academy of Science and Letters, Oslo, October 3-5.

Kuhl, P.K., Nelson, T., Coffey-Corina, S., Padden, D., & Conboy, B. (2004). Early brain and behavioral measures of native and non-native speech perception differentially predict later language development: The neural commitment hypothesis. Poster presented at the Society for Neuroscience, San Diego, October 23-27.

Rivera-Gaxiola, M., Conboy, B., Klarman, L., Aksoylu, E., & Kuhl, P.K. (2004). Behavior and electrophysiology of cross-linguistic speech perception in 7-, 11-, and 20-month-old infants. Poster presented at the Society for Neuroscience, San Diego, October 23-27.

Jackson-Maldonado, D. & Conboy, B. (2003). Spanish parental report measures for monolingual and bilingual infants and toddlers: From vocabulary to grammar. Invited session, Multicultural & Diversity Issues Topic Committee, American Speech-Language-Hearing Association, Chicago, November 12-15.