About Patricia K. Kuhl's Speech Research Lab Bio | CV | Publications | Current Research | About the Lab | Recent Media | Contact Dr. Kuhl Dr. Kuhl's Speech Research Lab is part of the UW Institute for Learning and Brain Sciences, of which she is co-director. Her lab is on the university's Seattle campus, adjacent to the Lake Washington Ship Canal. Below are details about the researchers, postdoctoral fellows, and research staff members who work with Dr. Kuhl at the Institute, as well as information about her colleagues at other institutions and her former lab members.

VISITING SCIENTISTS
POSTDOCTORAL FELLOWS
RESEARCH STAFF & STUDENTS
COLLEAGUES
FORMER LAB MEMBERS

Faculty and Visiting Scientists

Waka Fujisaki, Ph.D.

Dr. Fujisaki received her Ph. D. in psychology from Ochanomizu University in Japan. She is currently a Research Fellow of the Japan Society for the Promotion of Science.and a Visiting Scientist at both the Institute for Learning and Brain Sciences, and NTT Communication Science Laboratories. Before coming to the Institute, she worked as a postdoctoral researcher at NTT Communication Science Laboratories with Shin'ya Nishida, Makio Kashino & Shinsuke Shimojo. Her research interests center around the long-term and short-term plasticity of auditory and cross-modal (auditory, visual, and tactile) systems. Her current research with Dr. Patricia Kuhl examines the link between speech perception and speech production on the second language acquisition.

Toshiaki Imada, Ph.D., Research Professor

Dr. Imada is a Research Professor in the UW Department of Speech & Hearing Sciences and head of the Language Neuroimaging Lab at the Institute for Learning and Brain Sciences. For the past 26 years, he has conducted research on human information-processing mechanisms and on artificial intelligence. In Japan, he was one of the first researchers to study human auditory and visual information-processing in the brain using magnetoencephalography (MEG), a cutting-edge neuroimaging technique. The focus of his research is the use of non-invasive neuroimaging methods, such as MEG and optical tomography, to investigate infant acquisition of higher-order brain functions, such as cognition and language.

Dr. Conboy is a research associate working with Dr. Kuhl on studies of early language acquisition. Her research involves the use of behavioral and event-related brain potential (ERP) methods to explore whether very young children use their experience from one language to facilitate learning and processing in another language. Other research interests include the effects of input and experience on language and brain development, and the early identification and treatment of language impairment in bilingual children. Dr. Conboy is also an ASHA-certified speech-language pathologist and has worked extensively with Spanish-English bilingual as well as monolingual children.

Dr. Garcia-Sierra is a Postdoctoral fellow working with Dr. Patricia K. Kuhl on studies of early language acquisition in bilingual infants. Before coming to the Institute he earned a Ph.D. in Speech and Hearing Sciences at the University of Texas at Austin. He is mainly interested in understanding how knowledge of a second language affects speech perception. In his studies, bilingual and monolingual speakers are assessed behaviorally and electrophysiological (Event Related Potentials) while performing speech categorization tasks in different language contexts. His studies support that bilinguals', but not monolinguals' perception of speech sounds change depending on the language context in which speech sound are presented. Currently he is investigating speech discrimination in infants that are exposed to more than one language.

Barbara Nash, Ph.D.

Barbara Nash is a postdoctoral fellow, working with Dr. Patricia K. Kuhl. Before coming to the institute, she completed a PhD in experimental Psychology, working with Prof. Denis Burnham at MARCS Auditory Laboratories at the University of Western Sydney, Australia. She is mainly interested in first and second language development and the influence of music on language learning. Her research at iLABS is about whether young infants can learn to discriminate foreign language sounds by playing with an interactive television set.

Cherie Percaccio, Ph.D.

Dr. Percaccio is a postdoctoral fellow working with Dr. Kuhl on studies of language acquisition in children with autism. Together, they are investigating the phonetic discrimination abilities of at-risk infants to determine if there are early physiological markers of autism in the brainís response to speech syllables. Since Dr. Percaccioís graduate work with Dr. Kilgard at UTD was inspired by clinical experience, she is especially interested in the use of event-related potentials as assessment tools in humans. In graduate school, she published a series of papers investigating enrichment-induced plasticity in rat auditory cortex to model the physiological changes associated with therapy-related gains in children. At ILABS, her research program will focus on determining if clinical gains during and after therapy are associated with increased ERP discrimination and hemispheric localization of speech stimuli in children with autism.

Nairan RamÌrez-Esparza, Ph.D.

Dr. RamÌrez-Esparza is a postdoctoral fellow working with Dr. Patricia K. Kuhl. Before coming to the Institute she earned a Ph.D. in Social Psychology at the University of Texas at Austin. Nair·n's research interests focus on understanding how language and cultural context influences personality and behavior. In her studies she has found that something as subtle as the language a person is speaking can affect personality, behaviors, feelings, and self-views. Currently, she is interested in studying how the language used by bilingual families in their everyday lives influences speech development in infants.

Dr. Yapeng Wang is a postdoctoral fellow working with Dr. Patricia K. Kuhl. Before coming to I-LABS, he was an assistant professor in National Key Laboratory of Cognitive Neuroscience and Learning, Beijing Normal University, China. His research interests focus on the cognitive and neural mechanisms of language control and executive control in bilingual speakers. In his studies, he employed both behavioral and fMRI techniques to explore the cognitive and neural bases of language control and executive control in bilinguals. His studies showed that language control involved both "general" executive regions and task-related regions. Importantly, he found that the involvement of "general" executive regions was asymmetric depending on the direction of language switching. Currently, he is investigating the relationships between language control and executive control, and the role of social information plays in language control.

Research Staff & Graduate Students

Lisa Akiyama, Research Assistant

Lisa Akiyama double-majored in Psychology and Molecular/Cellular/Developmental Biology, receiving a bachelor’s degree from the University of Washington in 2009. Lisa is currently a post-baccalaureate student working in Dr. Kuhl's lab. Through a summer internship in Japan, she developed an interest in brain imaging technologies, especially magnetoencephalography (MEG). She would like to conduct research in neuroimaging techniques related to speech perception and production as well as second language acquisition.

Alexis Bosseler, Graduate Student

Ms. Bosseler is a doctoral student in Dr. Patricia K. Kuhl's lab. Ms. Bosseler earned her bachelor's degree in Psychology at the University of California, Santa Cruz. Her interests include the development of speech perception and production, and speech processing abilities in both typically developing children and children with developmental disorders. Prior to entering Dr. Kuhl's lab, she worked as a post-graduate researcher in the Perceptual Science Lab at UCSC. In her research there, she studied the processing abilities of children with autism from an information-processing perspective. Contact Ms. Bosseler.

Gina C. Cardillo, Graduate Student

Gina Cardillo is a third-year graduate student working in Dr. Patricia K. Kuhl's lab. She is especially interested in the links between music and speech perception through development, and how statistical learning mechanisms apply to both areas. Her aim is to incorperate clinical issues into her research and apply theoretical findings to practice. Contact Ms. Cardillo.

Linda Chung, Assistant to the Co-Director

Ms. Chung works as Dr. Patricia Kuhlís assistant, and acts as the liaison with UW Administration, Colleges and Departments as well as the LIFE Center. She also assists in preparing scientific manuscripts for publication and coordinates Dr. Kuhlís calendar, travel, and speaking engagements. Linda received her bachelor of science degree from the UW Department of Speech and Hearing Sciences and is currently working towards a masterís degree in Speech-language Pathology. Contact Ms. Chung.

Sharon Coffey-Corina, Research Coordinator

Ms. Coffey-Corina received her bachelors degree in Psychology at at the University of California/San Diego. She has extensive training and experience as an event related potentials (ERP) technician, with a special expertise in testing children and special populations. Prior to coming to Dr. Kuhlís Speech Research Lab, Ms. Coffey-Corina worked in Helen Nevilleís Cognitive Neuroscience lab at UCSD. Contact Ms. Coffey-Corina.

Lindsay Klarman, Research Technician, Speech Research Lab

Ms. Klarman assists with ERP studies and behavioral techniques, such as the preferential-looking paradigm and head-turn technique. She is currently overseeing data collection for collaborative bilingual research studies and is a member of the Registry of Interpreters for the Deaf. She holds two bachelorís degrees; one in Cognitive Science from the University of California/San Diego, earned under the direction of Dr. Elizabeth Bates and a Bachelors of Science from the University of Washingtonís Speech and Hearing Sciences. She has also completed a Masters in Non-Profit Leadership from Seattle University. Contact Ms. Klarman.

Lotus Jo-Fu Lin, Graduate Student

Ms. Lin is a graduate student working in Dr. Patricia K. Kuhl's lab. She received her bachelor's degree in Linguistics and Master's from Speech & Hearing Sciences at the UW. Her interests include experimental phonetics, second language learning and the application of neuroimaging methods in these fields. She is also interested in the possible links between language and memory resources in bilingual cognition. She is now working with Dr. Kuhl and Dr. Imada to investigate the role of language in numerical and mathematical thinking in bilinguals by use of different imaging methods. Contact Ms. Lin.

Denise Padden, Research Coordinator

Ms. Padden has a masters in Audiology from the UW and works in Dr. Kuhlës lab. Using behavioral and neuroimaging techniques such as head-turn and event-related potentials (ERPs), she investigates the effects of language experience on speech perception in infants, children, and adults. Her interests include infant speech-perception development and the relationship between infant speech perception and language learning. Contact Ms. Padden.

Pat Stock, Research Coordinator

Ms. Stock manages research grants and assists with studies supported by these grants in the Speech Research Laboratory, from scheduling subjects to assisting with ERP, MRI, and behavioral studies. She has experience in managing large NIH-funded grants and assisting with studies, previously working on studies focused on typical and a-typical language development (written) for the University of Washington's Multidisciplinary Learning Disabilities Center. Building upon her experience in written language development, she is interested in oral language development in informal environments and, secondarily, the possible impact it may have on later written language development. She holds an MBA from Indiana University. Contact Ms. Stock.

Chiara Suttora, Graduate Student

Chiara Suttora is a doctoral student in the University of Milano-Bicocca. She earned her degree in Psychology from the University of Milano-Bicocca working with Dr. Salerni and Dr. D'Odorico. Her interests include communication and language development in both typically developing children and children born preterm. In her research she studied early language acquisition of premature infants mainly focusing on the social aspects involved in this process, such as turn-taking skills and infant directed speech. She's now working at the I-LABS with Dr. Kuhl to investigate speech perception skills of very-premature infants by use of behavioral methods. Contact Ms. Suttora.