Penn State student Alexis Basciano is conducting research to better understand how individuals with autism interpret emotions using music. Her inspiration behind the project is her brother, who is autistic, and her own love and appreciation of music.
Karla Armendariz, a Communication Sciences and Disorders major, is studying a tool to help children with complex communication needs. Thanks to a college grant, Armendariz was able to pilot the program over the summer with Mexican-American families.
The Department of Communication Sciences and Disorders welcomes Navin Viswanathan as associate professor, Anne Olmstead as assistant professor, and Michael Robb as professor.
Penn State doctoral candidate Jessica Gormley, who is studying communication sciences and disorders, recently received the Emerging Researcher Award from the International Society for Augmentative and Alternative Communication (ISAAC). Gormley received the award during the 18th Biennial Conference of ISAAC held from July 21 to July 26 in Gold Coast, Australia.
A $300,000 three-year grant from the National Institutes of Health will allow Penn State researchers to further study a language disorder experienced by one-third of stroke patients in the United States. Researchers will study patients with aphasia, a language disorder commonly found in stroke patients, who specifically have anomia or trouble finding everyday words.
Ping Li, Penn State professor of psychology, linguistics, and information sciences and technology, will speak on “Understanding the Language-Learning Brain through Cyber-Enabled and Computational Methods.” The event will be held in 233A HUB-Robeson Center from 1:30 to 3:00 p.m. on Feb. 7.
A Penn State study brings researchers one step closer to better understanding and treating dysarthria, a type of motor speech disorder, in people with ALS. Dysarthria can cause slurred speech, slowed speech, abnormal pitch and rhythm, changes in voice quality and limited tongue, lip or jaw movement, according to the American Speech-Language-Hearing Association.
Penn State psychologists say that presidential candidates can use the same words, but can mean something completely different. They say the gap between words and meaning has never been this big — and that this gap is growing. They used computer algorithms to examine how presidential candidates' used words together — word association — in speeches and debates since 1999 to help determine the meaning of those words in the minds of the candidates. The researchers were also able to use algorithms to predict a person's political leanings and party affiliation based on their word associations.
The higher frequency of tantrums in children with autism are often blamed on speech and language problems. In a study, researchers indicate that IQ, the ability to understand language, and their ability to use words and speak clearly explained less than 3 percent of their tantrums.
Penn State geography doctoral student A. Marie Ranjbar's research explores the language of human justice in Iran: how certain phrases have become politicized and in some ways dangerous to use, and how some residents deal with this conundrum as they seek ways to speak up for themselves.
Penn State York is offering a 20-hour Spanish course designed to help prepare students to talk with members of the Spanish-speaking community. This noncredit course begins Wednesday, Sept. 14 and continues through Nov. 16, from 6-8 p.m.
The Penn State Center for Healthy Aging will host “Wisdom in Words: Aging and Language” as part of its Healthy Aging Community Lecture Series, at 10:30 a.m. on Nov. 5 at Foxdale Village in State College. There is no cost to attend but reservations are required.
The number of first-generation immigrants in the U.S. has quadrupled since 1970. According to Suresh Canagarajah, this suggests that more Americans than ever speak multiple languages, and that "as diverse communities take over English and use it according to their values, English itself is also getting diversified.
With 15 faculty members at Penn State and a major grant from the NSF's Partnership for International Research and Education, the Center for Language Science is using fMRI and other tools to fathom the bilingual brain at work.
Judith Kroll, distinguished professor of psychology, linguistics and women's studies and director of Penn State's Center for Language Science (CLS), has published numerous articles on the cognitive processes that underlie language, communication and bilingualism. Today in a syndicated public radio series called "Academic Minute," she explains some highlights of CLS research on the mental exercise that bilingual speakers perform that benefits their brains -- and that can benefit new language learners as well.
