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Ph.D. Students


油Ի

Doctoral student (School of Communication Sciences and Disorders; Co-supervisor: Dr. Shari Baum), 2014-
ʰ𳦳:Brain signatures of semantic and syntactic integration during sentence processing: a behavioural and event-related potential study
Funding: MITACS Accelerate Award; Lucie Besner Award for the Study of Human Communication Neuroscience; ۲ݮƵ Graduate Excellence award; Graduate Student Stipend

Publications:

Royle, P., Steinhauer, K., Dessureault, E., Herbay, A., & Brambati, S. (2019). Aging and language: Maintenance of morphological representations in older adults. Frontiers in Communication, 4, 16.

Rvachew, S., Royle, P., Gonnerman, L. M., Stanké, B., Marquis, A., & Herbay, A. (2017). Development of a tool to screen risk of literacy delays in French-speaking children: PHOPHLO.Canadian Journal of Speech-Language Pathology and Audiology, 41(3), 321-340.

Selected conference presentations:



Max Wolpert

Doctoral student (Integrated Program in Neuroscience; Co-supervisor: Dr. Shari Baum), 2016-
ʰ𳦳:Second language impact on first language grammatical processingin Chinese-English bilinguals: a behavioural and event-related potential study
Funding:Shuk-Tak Liang Fellowship - Faculty of Medicine, ۲ݮƵ

Publications:

Wolpert, M., Mancini, S., & Caffarra, S. (2017). Addressee Identity and Morphosyntactic Processing in Basque Allocutive Agreement. Frontiers in Psychology, 8(September), 1–11.

Gilbert, A., Wolpert, M., Kousaie, S., Baum, S. (2017). Producing appropriate prosodic cues in a non-dominant language: preliminary results from French-English bilinguals. Proceedings of 8th Tutorial and Research Workshop on Experimental Linguistics, 37-40.

Mousley, C., Yuan, P., Gaur, N., Trettin, K., Nile, A., Deminoff, S., Dewar, B.,Wolpert, M., Macdonald, J., Herman, P., Hinnebusch, A., Bankaitis V. (2012). A sterol-binding protein integrates endosomal lipid metabolism with TOR signaling and nitrogen sensing. Cell, 148(4), 702-715.

Selected conference presentations:

Gilbert, A., Kousaie, S., Wolpert, M., Klein, D., Baum, S. How experience with different prosodies shapes the bilingual brain: preliminary connectivity analyses from English-French bilinguals. Society for the Neurobiology of Language (SNL). Baltimore, November 2017. (Poster)

Glushko, A., Poeppel, D., Wolpert, M., Glatz, T., Steinhauer, K. Cortical tracking of linguistic structures: the role of covert prosody. Society for the Neurobiology of Language (SNL). Baltimore, November 2017. (Poster)

Gilbert, A., Wolpert, M., Kousaie, S., Baum, S. Producing appropriate prosodic cues in a non-dominant language: preliminary results from French-English bilinguals. Tutorial and Research Workshop on Experimental Linguistics. Greece, June 2017. (Presentation)

Sander, K., Barbeau, E., Wolpert, M., Baum, S., Petrides, M., Klein, D. Linking Intrinsic Anatomical Connectivity and Second-Language Learning Success Using Improved DTI Reconstruction of Language Pathways. Neurosymposium. Montreal, May 2017. (Poster)

Sander, K., Barbeau, E., Wolpert, M., Baum, S., Petrides, M., Klein, D. Étude du lien entre la connectivité anatomique cérébrale individuelle et l'aptitude à apprendre une deuxième langue grâce à des reconstructions améliorées des faisceaux du langage par tractographie. Association Francophone Pour Le Savoir (ACFAS). Montreal, May 2017. (Poster)

Wolpert, M., Sander, K., Barbeau, E., Petrides, M, Klein, D. Analysis of Tractography Methods for Language Pathways. Montreal Neurological Institute Neuropsychology Day. Montreal, May 2017. (Poster)

Wolpert, M., Caffarra, S., Mancini, S. Addressee Identity and Basque Allocutivity. Architectures and Mechanisms for Language Processing Conference (AMLaP). Spain, September 2016. (Poster)

Wolpert, M., Nile, A., Mousley, C., Bankaitis, V. Binding Predictions in ORPs. UNC HHMI Future Scientists and Clinicians Summer Closing. Chapel Hill, July 2012. (Poster)

Wolpert, M., Nile, A., Mousley, C., Bankaitis, V. Sterol Binding in ORPs. UNC Undergraduate Research Symposium. Chapel Hill, April 2012. (Poster)

Wolpert, M., Mousley, C., Bankaitis, V. Sterol Binding in ORPs. UNC HHMI Future Scientists and Clinicians Summer Closing. Chapel Hill, July 2011. (Presentation)

Alumni Ph.D. Students


Anastasia Glushko

Doctoral student (Integrated Program in Neuroscience), 2014-2020
ʰ𳦳:Towards a multidimensional neurocognitive model of Specific Language Impairment: a behavioural and event-related potential study
Funding: Vanier Canada Graduate Scholarship (CGS) from CIHR;Centre for Research on Brain, Language and Music - Graduate Student Stipend;Grad Excellence Award in Neurology & Neurosurgery - IPN Returning Student Award; ۲ݮƵ Major Fellowship - Alma Mater Fellowship

Publications:

Glushko, A., Poeppel, D., & Steinhauer, K. (2020). Overt and covert prosody are reflected in neurophysiological responses previously attributed to grammatical processing.bioRxiv.

DePriest, J., Glushko, A., Steinhauer, K., & Koelsch, S. (2017).Language and music phrase boundary processing in Autism Spectrum Disorder: An ERP study. Scientific Reports, 7,14465.

Glushko, A. (2017). Specific language impairment: What do we know about it?. The Special Child: Studies and Assistance Experience, 9,101–110. [].

Glushko, A., Steinhauer, K., DePriest, J., & Koelsch, S. (2016). Neurophysiological correlates of musical and prosodic phrasing: shared processing mechanisms and effects of musical expertise.PLoS ONE, 11(5), e0155300.

Selected conference presentations:

Glushko, A., Wolpert, M., & Steinhauer, K.Analyzing the frequency spectrum of neurophysiological responses to complex linguistic stimuli: a methodological investigation. Poster presented at the LiveMEEG conference, Online, October 5-9, 2020.

Glushko, A.(2018). Neurophysiological correlates of prosodic phrase processing in humans. Talk given at the Symposium on Comparative Perspectives on the Production and Processing of Prosody, Montreal, Canada, July 5, 2018.

Glushko, A., Poeppel, D., Wolpert, M., Glatz, T., & Steinhauer, K. (2018). Cortical tracking of linguistic phrases: bottom-up and top-down effects of prosodic processing. Poster presented at the annual meeting of the Cognitive Neuroscience Society, Boston, USA, March 24-27, 2018.

Glushko, A., Poeppel, D., Wolpert, M., Glatz, T., & Steinhauer, K. (2017).Cortical tracking of linguistic structures: the role of covert prosody.Poster presented at the annual meeting of the Society for the Neurobiology of Language, Baltimore, USA, November8-10, 2017.

Glushko, A., Poeppel, D., Wolpert, M., & Steinhauer, K. (2017). Frequency tagging of syntactic structure: effects of covert prosody. Brain Rhythms and Cortical Computation (BRyCoCo) workshop, Geneva, Switzerland, October 4-6, 2017.

Glushko, A., Steinhauer, K., & Koelsch, S. (2015). Phrasing in language and music: same or different? An event-related potential study. Poster presented at the annual meeting of the Society for the Neurobiology of Language, Chicago, USA, October 15-17, 2015.

Glushko, A., DePriest, J., Koelsch, S., & Steinhauer, K. (2015). Early long-lasting expectation effects on neurophysiological responses to musical phrase perception. Talk given at the biennial meeting of the Society for Music Perception & Cognition,Nashville, USA, August 1-5, 2015.PDF

DePriest, J., Steinhauer, K., Glushko, A., & Koelsch, S. (2015). Language and music phrase boundary processing in Autism Spectrum Disorders: an ERP study. Talk given at the biennial meeting of the Society for Music Perception & Cognition, Nashville, USA, August 1-5, 2015.

Glushko, A., Steinhauer, K., DePriest, J., & Koelsch, S. (2014). The effect of musical expertise on intonational phrase processing. Poster presented at the Integrated Program in Neuroscience (IPN) retreat, Montreal, Canada, September 18 – 19, 2014.

Glushko, A. & Dragoy, O. (2013). The development of Russian aspect and time reference comprehension in preschool children. Talk given at The Higher School of Economics workshop “Aspect attrition in Russian and Spanish”, Moscow, Russia, June 24 - 26, 2013.

Glushko, A. (2012). Executive functions in bilingual adults: the relation with the age of acquisition and functional asymmetries. Talk given at the XIX International student, postgraduate and young scientist conference «Lomonosov», Moscow, Russia, April 9 - 13, 2012.


Lauren Fromont

Doctoral student (Université de Montréal, Biomedical Sciences; Primary supervisor: Dr Phaedra Royle), 2014-2019
ʰ𳦳:Verbing and nouning in French: Reevaluating the dynamics of word category processing in real time
Funding: The Quebec Research Fund - Nature and Technologies -Merit scholarship program for foreign students (PBEEE);Université de Montréal - Bourse du programme en Sciences Biomédicales; Centre for Research on Brain, Language and Music - Graduate Student Stipend

Publications:

Royle P., Fromont, L.A., & Drury, J.E. (2018). Definiteness and Maximality in French Language Acquisition, More Adult-Like Than You Would Expect. Frontiers in Communication. 3:27.

Biau, E., Fromont, L. A., & Soto‐Faraco, S. (2017). Beat Gestures and Syntactic Parsing: An ERP Study.Language Learning.

Steinhauer, K., Royle, P., Drury, J. E., & Fromont, L. A. (2017). The priming of priming: Evidence that the N400 reflects context-dependent post-retrieval word integration in working memory.Neuroscience Letters,651, 192-197.

Fromont L.A., Soto-Faraco S., & Biau E. (2017). Searching High and Low: Prosodic Breaks Disambiguate Relative Clauses.Frontiers inPsychology,8:96. PDF

Chiu F., Fromont L., Lee A., & Xu Y. (2015). Long-Distance Anticipatory Vowel-to-Vowel Assimilatory Effects In French and Japanese, In The Scottish Consortium for ICPhS 2015 (Eds.), Proceedings of the 18th International Congress of Phonetic Sciences. Glasgow, UK: the University of Glasgow. ISBN 978-0-85261-941-4. Article numéro 1008.1-5

Selected conference presentations:

Fromont L., Royle P., Perlitch I., & Steinhauer K. (2016). Re-evaluating the dynamics of phrase-structure processing usingEvent Related Potentials: the case of syntactic categories in French. Poster presented atThe 17th World Congress on Psychophysiology, La Havana, Cuba, August 31-September 4, 2016.

Royle P., Drury J.E., Perlitch I., Fromont L., & Steinhauer K. (2016). Stimulus lists can modulate semantic priming effectson the N400.Poster presented atThe 17th World Congress on Psychophysiology, La Havana, Cuba, August 31-September 4, 2016.

Royle P., Valois D., Fromont L., & Drury J.E. (2016).French children’s mastery of definiteness and maximality. Poster presented at41st Annual BUCLD. Boston, MA, November 4-6, 2016.

Fromont L., Royle P., Courteau E., Steinhauer K. (2016). Processing of grammatical gender agreement and word knowledge inFrench children. Talk presented at Congrès international de l’école d’orthophonie et d’audiologie. Montréal, QC, November 14-15, 2016.

Fromont L.,RoyleP., & SteinhauerK. (2016). Pour une amélioration des méthodes de recherche en neurosciences du langage. Talk presented at 84èmeCongrès de l’Association francophone pour le savoir, Montréal, QC, May 9-13, 2016.

Fromont L., Borgus A., Steinhauer K., & Royle P. (2016). Reevaluating the dynamics of word category processing using EventRelated Potentials: methods and preliminary results. Talk presented at PsychoShorts, Ottawa, ON, February 27, 2016.

Fromont L., BiauE., & Soto-FaracoS. (2015).Effects of Prosodic Cues on Relative Clause Attachment Preferences in Spanish, Talk presented at Annual Congress of the Canadian Linguistic Association, Ottawa, ON, May 30 – June 1, 2015.

Fromont L., Royle, P., Steinhauer, K.(2015). Finding agreement : an on-line study of gender processing in adults and children, Poster presented atSociety for Neurobiology of Language annual meeting, Chicago, IL, October 15-17, 2015.

Biau E., Fromont L., & Soto-Faraco S. (2014) The effect of pauses and beat gestures on syntactic parsing, Poster presented at InternationalMultisensory Research Forum, Amsterdam, June 11-14, 2014.


Stefanie Nickels

Doctoral student, 2011-2016
Project: Towards an ecologically valid model of sentence processing
Funding: Fonds de recherche du Québec – Nature et technologies: Boursier du programme d'excellence pour étudiants étrangers
Current position:,Laboratory for Affective and Translational Neuroscience,Harvard Medical School

I am curious about how the human brain manages to combine the semantic, syntactic and prosodic information contained in words to reach comprehension of a sentence.
Specifically, my work focuses on one influential sentence processing model proposed by Friederici (2002) for which recently a growing number of inconsistencies has been found. Using event-related potentials (ERPs), I test alternative explanations for key components of the model, i.e. the ELAN and the blocked N400 after combined semantic and syntactic violations.
At the same time, I am interested in how different people might approach sentence comprehension in different ways, as we have some strong evidence that there is a considerable amount of variability between subjects. One of my goals is to using novel analysis techniques which are particularly suited to incorporate variability between subjects in order understand what factors make people differ in their neurocognitive strategies of sentence processing.
Apart from this work on first language processing, I am also interested in bilingualism, and the different stages of second language acquisition of prosody and syntax with respect to the learner’s proficiency.

Publications:

Nickels, S., Opitz, B., & Steinhauer, K. (2013). ERPs show that classroom-instructed late second language learners rely on the same prosodic cues in syntactic parsing as do native speakers. Neuroscience Letters.

Selected conference presentations:

Steinhauer, K., Nickels S.(2015). Effects of proficiency, L1 background, and individual differences in English-L2 word category violations: ERP evidence from readers and listeners. Talk at the International Symposium on Bilingualism, Rutgers University, New Jersey, May 20-24, 2015.

Nickels, S., Bokhari, F. S., Steinhauer, K. (2014). ‘Semantic blocking’ solved at last: ERP evidence challenging syntax-first models. Society for the Neurobiology of Language, Amsterdam, Netherlands, August 27 -29, 2014. PDF

Nickels, S., Steinhauer, K. (2013). Proficiency and L1 background effects on L2 prosodic processing: ERP evidence from German and Chinese learners of English. Society for the Neurobiology of Language, San Diego, USA, November 6-8, 2013. PDF

Nickels, S., Steinhauer, K. (2012). Putting the critical period hypothesis to the test: A new paradigm allows a critical view on the ELAN in L1 and L2 speakers. Neurobiology of Language Conference, San Sebastian, Spain, October 25-27, 2012. PDF

Fodor, J. D., Nickels, S. (2011). Pronouncing and comprehending center-embedded sentences. 50 years of Linguistics at MIT, Boston, USA, December 9 – 11, 2011. PDF


Kristina Kasparian

Doctoral student, 2009-2015
Project: The case of the non-native-like first language: Neurophysiological evidence of first-language attrition
Funding:Vanier Canada Graduate Scholarship (CGS) from CIHR and Dr Richard Tomlinson Fellowship - Faculty of Medicine

I am primarily interested in the neurocognition of multilingualism: how the brain of a multilingual person represents and processes his/her different languages, and how these languages interact and influence one another. I am also interested in the changes that occur in the brain when we learn a new language, and how proficiency level (at different stages of learning or forgetting languages) impacts language processing in the brain.

My PhD project focuses on a phenomenon called "first language attrition" which is a non-pathological decline of one's first language, due to special circumstances (such as immigration) that lead the individual to experience very reduced exposure to their native language, while becoming dominant and highly-proficient in the second language they learned in adulthood. In studying first-language attrition, I am approaching the "critical period hypothesis" from a different perspective: are "attriters" still native-like in how their brain processes their first-language, despite their self-reports of gradually-increasing difficulties in that language since immigration? Are they native-like in the second-language they were immersed into in adulthood, and do they show interference effects from this second-language onto their first-language?

To study these questions, my PhD project comprises 6 ERP experiments and a number of behavioral tasks conducted in two languages: Italian and English. The target group of participants ("attriters") were native-speakers of Italian who were born in Italy and immigrated to Canada in adulthood. These participants were recruited because they unanimously reported a perceived decline in their Italian fluency and automaticity, in addition to a high degree of proficiency and daily use of English. These individuals were then compared to Italian native (monolingual) speakers, English native (monolingual) speakers as well as to a group of bilingual controls consisting of English learners of Italian. A number of syntactic and lexical-semantic areas of Italian and English were investigated. Together, these studies are among the very first worldwide to investigate the neurophysiological correlates of first-language attrition. In terms of L2 processing, these studies are also among the first to examine L2-to-L1 transfer using ERPs.

Publications:

Kasparian, K., & Steinhauer, K. (2017). When the second language takes the lead: Neurocognitive processing changes in the first language of adult attriters.Frontiers in Psychology,8, 389. PDF

Kasparian, K., Vespignani, F., & Steinhauer, K. (2016). First Language Attrition Induces Changes in Online Morphosyntactic Processing and Re‐Analysis: An ERP Study of Number Agreement in Complex Italian Sentences. Cognitive Science. PDF

Kasparian, K., & Steinhauer, K. (2016). Confusing similar words: ERP correlates of lexical-semantic processing in first language attrition and late second language acquisition.Neuropsychologia, 93, 200-217. PDF

Kasparian, K. (2012). Contributions of neuroimaging to the study of figurative language processing. Journal of Neurolinguistics, 26(1) ,1-21. PDF

Gauthier, K., Genesee, F., & Kasparian, K. (2011). Acquisition of complement clitics and tense morphology in internationally adopted children acquiring French. Bilingualism, Language and Cognition, 15(2), 304-319. PDF

Gauthier, K., Genesee, F., Dubois, M.-E., & Kasparian, K. (2011). Communication patterns between internationally-adopted children and their mothers: Implications for language development. Applied Psycholinguistics, FirstViewarticle, 1-23. PDF

Bol, G. W., & Kasparian, K. (2009). The production of pronouns in Dutch children with developmental language disorders: a comparison between children with SLI, Hearing Impairment and Down’s syndrome. Clinical Linguistics and Phonetics, 23(9), 631-646. PDF

Selected conference presentations:

Kasparian, K., Vespignani, F., & Steinhauer, K. (2015). First-language attrition effects in the online revision of ungrammaticality: ERP evidence challenging the "critical period" view. Talk presented at the International Symposium on Bilingualism (ISB10), New Brunswick, USA, May 20-24, 2015.

Kasparian, K., Vespignani, F., & Steinhauer, K. (2014). The case of the non-native-like first language: ERP evidence of L1-attrition in lexical and morphosyntactic processing. Talk presented as part of the symposium on "Brain signatures of language learning and forgetting: ERP studies on first and second language acquisition and attrition (Csépe & Steinhauer)", The 17th World Congress on Psychophysiology, Hiroshima, Japan, September 23-27, 2014. PDF

Kasparian, K., Vespignani, F., & Steinhauer, K. (2014). Neurophysiological correlates of L1 attrition and L2 acquisition: A continuum based on proficiency. Poster presented at the Society for the Neurobiology of Language, Amsterdam, Netherlands, August 27-29, 2014. PDF

Kasparian, K., Vespignani, F., & Steinhauer, K. (2013). When the second language takes over: ERP evidence of L1-attrition in morphosyntactic processing. Talk presented at the International Conference on Multilingualism, Montreal, Canada, October 24-25, 2013. PDF

Kasparian, K., Vespignani, F., & Steinhauer, K. (2013). My Italian is not what it used to be: Investigating the neural correlates of L1 attrition and late L2 acquisition. Poster presented at the Workshop on Neurobilingualism, Groningen, The Netherlands, August 25-27, 2013. PDF

Kasparian, K., Vespignani, F., & Steinhauer, K. (2013). Age-of-acquisition or proficiency? An ERP study of morphosyntactic processing in first language attrition. Talk presented at the International Symposium on Bilingualism (ISB9), Singapore, June 10-13, 2013. PDF

Kasparian, K. (2012). Could a second language “replace” one’s native tongue? Invited talk presented at the Department of Cognitive Sciences and Education, Università degli Studi di Trento, Rovereto, Italy, October, 2012.

Kasparian, K. (2011). Is there a critical period for mastering a second language? New light on an “old” problem. Invited talk presented at the annual Tomlinson Talks organized by the Tomlinson Scholarship Program, ۲ݮƵ University, March 30, 2011.

Kasparian, K., Bourguignon, N., Drury, J. E., & Steinhauer, K. (2011). Effects of L2-proficiency and L1-background on L2 sentence processing: An ERP study of adjective-noun word order in French and Mandarin late learners of English. Talk presented at the International Symposium on Bilingualism (ISB8), Oslo, Norway, June 15-18, 2011. PDF

Kasparian, K., Bourguignon, N., Drury, J. E., & Steinhauer, K. (2010). Proficiency and transfer effects in L1-L2 nominal morphology: ERP evidence from French and Mandarin learners of English. Poster presentation at the Neurobiology of Language Conference (NLC), San Diego, CA, November 11-12, 2010. PDF

Kasparian, K., Bourguignon, N., Drury, J. E., & Steinhauer, K. (2010). On the influence of proficiency and L1-background in L2 processing: An ERP study of nominal morphology in French and Mandarin learners of English. Poster presentation at the Donostia Workshop on Neurobilingualism, Basque Center on Cognition, Brain and Language, Donostia-San Sebastián, Spain, Sept 30 – Oct 2, 2010.

Efrat Pauker

Doctoral student, 2005-2013
Project: Real-time brain correlates of syntax-prosody interactions in natural speech processing

Nicolas Bourguignon

Doctoral student, 2009-2011
Project: Development of conceptual-intentional properties in language: An ERP study
Current position: Postdoctoral researcher, CHU Sainte-Justine Research Center and University of Montreal

Erin J. White

Doctoral student, 2005-2012
Project: Neuro-cognitive processing of morpho-syntax and phonology in late second language learners

Monika Molnar

Doctoral student, 2007-2010
Project: Vowel perception of simultaneous bilinguals in monolingual and bilingual language modes
Current position: Postdoctoral researcher at Basque Center on Cognition, Brain and Language

Shani Abada

Doctoral student, 2007-2010
Project: ERP correlates of cooperating and conflicting prosodic and lexical information in speech.

Jen Mah

Doctoral student, 2005-2011
Project: The trouble with phoneme /h/ in Francophones: An ERP investigation
Funding: SSHRC doctoral fellowship Award
Current position: Part-time faculty member at Mount Royal University

Inbal Itzhak

Doctoral student, 2005-2007
Project: Prosody and sentence processing subsequent to focal brain damage
Funding: Faculty of Medicine Internal Studentship Award

Helen Carpenter

Doctoral student, 2002-2008
Project: Aptitude in second language acquisition (SLA)

Kara Morgan-Short

Doctoral student, 2002-2007
Project
: ERPs and artificial language learning
Funding: NIH/NRSA; NSF Fellowship Award
Current Position: Assistant Professor at University of Illinois, Chicago


Harriet W. Bowden

Doctoral student, 2002-2007
Project: ERPs in late second language acquisition
Funding: NIH/NRSA; NSF Fellowship Award
Current Position: Assistant Professor at University of Tennessee, Knoxville

Ivy V. Estabrooke

Doctoral student, 2002-2004
Project
: Estrogen and cognitive processing
Funding: NIH Fellowship

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