[CogSci] Ph.D. student position in Speech Perception, at Univ. of Massachusetts Amherst

[Alexandra Jesse]

Please share with students and colleagues.  **Please note particular call for applicants interested in using EEG to study the effects of aging on speech perception**

Ph.D. student position in Speech Perception, at Univ. of Massachusetts Amherst

The Language, Intersensory Perception, and Speech (LIPS) lab, directed by Dr. Alexandra Jesse, has openings for Ph.D. students in Cognition and Cognitive Neuroscience. The lab conducts basic research on how humans recognize speech sounds and spoken words from auditory and audiovisual speech, using a variety of methods (e.g., psychophysical methods, eye tracking, EEG, motion tracking). The research program has three major themes:
a) Dynamics of speech recognition: 
How do listeners dynamically process and bind speech information as it unfolds over time to recognize sounds and words? How does contextual information (e.g., sentence content, speaking rate, prosody) affect, for example, lexical competition?
b) Perceptual learning: 
How do listeners adjust to talker's idiosyncrasitic ways of speaking? How do listeners learn about a speaker's "visual voice"?
c) Perceptual and cognitive factors in speech recognition: 
What abilities explain individual differences in speech recognition? A special focus here is on age-related changes in speech recognition and multisensory processing.

Applicants should be interested in pursuing research (broadly) related to these research themes. It is strongly recommended to contact Dr. Jesse prior to applying to ensure that your interests indeed align with the research program. 

Preference will be given to candidates with a particular interest in audiovisual speech perception and aging, who would conduct research related to an NIH-sponsored R03 grant on “Electrophysiological indices of audiovisual benefits to speech processing in aging adults”. The objective of the grant-funded research is to understand the mechanisms by which aging adults benefit from seeing the speaker during speech processing. Electrophysiological measures in younger, middle-aged, and older adults are used to define age-related and individual differences in audiovisual processing. Prior background in electrophysiology is a plus, but not a must.

The LIPS lab is a member of UMass Cognitive Science and of the Initiative on Neurosciences (IONs). We highly encourage collaborations with other faculty working on speech recognition and language in the various involved disciplines, as well as with other members of the Cognition and Cognitive Neuroscience Program and the Neuroscience and Behavior Program, whose research interests include attention, categorization, memory, and visual perception.

Applicants with a strong background in Psychology, Linguistics, Cognitive Neuroscience, Communication Disorders/Speech Sciences and/or other related fields are especially encouraged to apply. Applications should be submitted through the University of Massachusetts’ general application process. The deadline for applications is December 1. Start date is September 2019.

The ideal candidate for any of these positions would have:
Strong interest in auditory/audiovisual speech perception, perceptual learning, perceptual and cognitive factors within speech perception, and/or changes therein with aging
Previous experience with eye tracking and/or electrophysiology would be a plus, but not a requirement
Background in cognitive psychology, cognitive neuroscience, linguistics or speech sciences
Programming skills
Excellent English language skills
Applicants from outside the U.S. are welcome to apply but must qualify for a valid visa.

For information on how to apply, please visit: http://www.umass.edu/pbs/graduate-programs <http://www.umass.edu/pbs/graduate-programs>
For questions about the general application process please contact Mrs. Sabrina Flagg (Graduate Administrative Assistant), sflagg at umass.edu <mailto:sflagg at umass.edu>.
For specific question about the LIPS lab, please contact Dr. Jesse, ajesse at psych.umass.edu <mailto:ajesse at psych.umass.edu>
For information on the LIPS lab, please visit: http://lips.psych.umass.edu <http://lips.psych.umass.edu/>

The University of Massachusetts is an Affirmative Action/Equal Opportunity Employer. Women and members of minority groups are encouraged to apply.
---------------------------------------------------------------
 Alexandra Jesse, Ph.D.
 Associate Professor
 Department of Psychological and Brain Sciences
 433 Tobin Hall
 135 Hicks Way
 University of Massachusetts Amherst
 Amherst MA 01003
 phone: +1- 413-545-2175
---------------------------------------------------------------






-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://lists.cognitivesciencesociety.org/pipermail/announcements-cognitivesciencesociety.org/attachments/20181115/925528de/attachment.html>