[Please excuse multiple copies]
I would like to invite you to the annual Macnamara Lecture, which will take
place at 3:30pm on Friday November 18 in Room 522 of the McIntyre Medical
Bldg. Please put this date into your schedule.
We have the good fortune to have as our speaker Dr. Janet Werker of the
University of British Columbia who is world-renowned for her research on
the perception of speech by infants.
Her Title is "Are there Critical Periods in Speech Perception Development?"
Abstract: The process of language acquisition begins in perceptual
development long before infants produce or even understand, their first
words. In this talk, I will review the rapid changes in auditory, visual,
and multimodal speech perception that occur in the first months of life as
infants establish a foundation for acquiring a single language, in the case
of monolingual-learning infants, and two languages in the case of
bilingual-learning infants. I will then present evidence that, while under
typical circumstances the timing of perceptual attunement seems to be
constrained by maturation, there are identifiable variations in experiences
that can accelerate, slow down, or modify this developmental
trajectory. Finally,
I will introduce new questions about whether studies to date on the timing
of plasticity have considered all the relevant input systems. The
implications of these findings for better understanding language development
in both typically developing and atypical populations will be considered.
Morning seminar: At 10:00am on the same day, you are invited to a seminar
in room S2/2 of the Stewart Building (in the South wing, on the same level
as the centre courtyard), in which Dr. Werker will be interviewed by me
about her life as an academic and a researcher on child language
perception, and will answer questions from participants.
[Please forward this message to anyone who might be interested.]
Thank you,
Al
Albert S. Bregman, FRSC, Emeritus Professor
Psychology Department, McGill University
(514) 654-3605
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Albert_Bregman