Matthew Masapollo

My research program examines the nature and development of human speech production and perception, and the nature of the signal properties (auditory, visual, haptic) transmitted from speaker to perceiver. A viable theory of human linguistic communication processes must explicate the precise nature of the complex mapping between the input speech signal and phonological units (phonemes, syllables, words), and it must describe the mechanisms and processes by which phonological units are implemented as vocal tract articulations that lead to an audible, intelligible speech signal. Furthermore, to be complete, the theory must provide an account of the developmental course of the ability to both produce and perceive speech. My goal is to further the development of such a theory by examining speech production and perception across the lifespan using a wide range of behavioral and neurological research methods. My current work is organized into two interdependent research axes, one focusing on complex interactions between speech production and perception and the roles of sensory feedback; another focusing on the neural control, timing and sequencing of speech movements and the contribution of working memory to speech motor sequencing. The results of such investigations have important implications for theories of speech and language processing, as well as for developmental and acquired disabilities involving speech (e.g., stuttering, apraxia of speech, autism).

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Masapollo, M., Smith, D.J. & Guenther, F.H. (in progress). Somatosensory inputs from the vocal tract enhance the visual discrimination of speech.

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Polka, L., Masapollo, M., & Ménard, L. (in prep). Infants prefer vowels with infant vocal resonances: Evidence for an “articulatory filter” bias.

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Zhao, T.C., Masapollo, M., Polka, L., Ménard, L., & Kuhl, P.K. (submitted). Effects of formant proximity on the neural encoding of vowels: Evidence from the auditory frequency-following response. Brain & Language.

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Masapollo, M., Franklin, L., Morgan, J.L., & Polka, L. (revising to re-submit). Asymmetries in vowel perception arise from cognitive encoding strategies. 

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Segawa, J.A., Masapollo, M., Tong, M., Smith, D.J., & Guenther, F.H. (re-submitted). Chunking of phonological units in speech sequencing. Brain & Language.

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Masapollo, M., Zhao, T.C., & Morgan, J.L. (accepted). Asymmetric discrimination of non speech tones differing in spectral proximity and dynamics. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Human Perception and Performance. 

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Masapollo, M., Polka, L., Ménard, L., Franklin, L., Tiede, M., & Morgan, J.L. (in press). Asymmetries in unimodal visual vowel perception: The roles of oral-facial kinematics, orientation and configuration. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Human Perception and Performance.  Brown University Press Release: https://news.brown.edu/articles/2018/03/speech

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Masapollo, M., Polka, L., & Ménard, L. (2017). A universal bias in adult vowel perception –by ear or by eye. Cognition, 166, 358-370.

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Masapollo, M., Polka, L., Molnar, M., & Ménard, L. (2017). Directional asymmetries reveal a universal bias in adult vowel perception. Journal of the Acoustical Society of America, 141(4), 2857-2869.

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Masapollo, M., Polka, L., & Ménard, L. (2015). When infants talk, infants listen: Pre-babbling infants prefer infant speech. Developmental Science, doi: 10.1111/desc.12298.  McGill University Newsroom Press Release: https://www.mcgill.ca/newsroom/channels/news/baby-talk-babies-prefer-listening-their-own-kind-250280

 

Polka, L., Masapollo, M., & Ménard, L. (2014). Who’s talking now? Infants’ perception of vowels with infant vocal properties. Psychological Science, doi: 10.1177/0956797614533571.

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Demuth, K., Patrolia, M., Song, J.Y., & Masapollo, M. (2012). The development of articles in children’s early Spanish: Prosodic interactions between lexical and grammatical form. Linguistic interfaces and language acquisition in childhood, J. Rotham & Pedro Guijarro-Fuentes (Eds.), First Language, 32, (1-2), 17-37.