About the Lab
The Laboratory for the study of Cognition, Action, and Perception of Speech (aka CAPS) is part of the Department of Speech, Language, and Hearing Sciences at the University of Florida. We are engaged in multidisciplinary research on the production and perception of speech by humans.
CRACKING THE SPEECH CODE
The Laboratory for the study of Cognition, Action, and Perception of Speech (also known as CAPS), led by Dr. Matthew Masapollo, studies the nature and development of human speech production and perception, and the nature of the signal properties that underlie successful speaker to perceiver communication. Our overarching goal is to build an integrated understanding of the physiology, acoustics, and perception of speech in order to develop theoretical models of speech processing and mechanistically driven rehabilitation protocols for those negatively affected by neurodevelopmental disabilities involving speech (e.g., stuttering, autism, and congenital deafness). Our current research areas focus on the learning of speech in infants and young children, normal speech in adults, and the breakdowns of speech in neurodevelopmental disorders. By combining state-of-the-art functional neuroimaging and electromagnetic articulography with behavioral measures, CAPS is helping to elucidate the governing mechanisms involved in speech motor control and perceptual function.
Research areas
Neural Control, Timing and Sequencing of Speech Movements
How do speakers learn to rapidly coordinate and implement multiple serial vocal tract movements (or gestures) corresponding to the consonants and vowels within a planned utterance?
Perception-Action Linkages for Speech
How do self-generated auditory and somatosensory feedback signals associated with speech production influence the concurrent perception of speech?
Universal Biases and Experiential Influences on Phonetic Perception
What perceptual and cognitive processes allow listeners (both adult and infant) to map the input acoustic signal onto categorical phonetic representations? Moreover, what is the nature of the information that those processes operate on, and how are those processes shaped by the complex interplay between biology and experience?
Recent news
PI Masapollo awarded HHF ERG
CAPS Lab Director, Dr. Masapollo, was recently awarded an Emerging Research Grant from the Hearing Health Foundation. The planned experiments, in…
Gender Affirming Healthcare: The Speech Language…
As part of Pride month, UF Clinical Lecturer, Kristen Lewandowski, recently wrote an article describing how SLPs can support and advocate for…
Emily Zezas at BSMCS
CAPS Lab member, Emily Zezas, presented a poster, entitled, “Generalization as a window into speech motor sequence chunking,” at the 2021 Boston…