Seminar Series
The HESP Department sponsors a series of talks on current research in the areas of hearing, speech, and language by visiting researchers or members of the HESP faculty. All students, faculty, staff, and affiliates are welcome and encouraged to attend. If you would like to join the email distribution list for all upcoming HESP Seminar Series talks, email Dr. Matt Goupell at goupell@umd.edu.
Certification Maintenance Hours can be earned by attending these talks.
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Date/Time | Speaker | Affiliation | Title | Abstract | Location |
Wednesday, May 9th, 2018 12:15-1:15 | Julie Knorr | HESP | Honor's Thesis: Online Conflict-Based Regulation in Language Prodcution | Speakers produce language quickly with few errors, despite undergoing several complex steps, from message planning to phoneme production, that all have many competing alternatives. However, when an error is made, speakers are able to correct themselves, which demonstrates that they are monitoring for errors and adjusting behavior accordingly. How are speakers able to detect errors and ensure that they are saying what they mean to say? This thesis focused on testing the type of conflicting monitoring that language production undergoes. Does language production utilize a monitor that is specific to production alone (domain-specific), or does it engage across multiple domains even outside of language (domain-general)? This experiment examined the adjustment of control within the linguistic Picture-Word Interference (PWI) and nonlinguistic Simon tasks. Using a task switching paradigm, conflict adaptation between tasks and within the same task was analyzed. Results showed within-task conflict adaptation in both PWI and Simon tasks, but not adaptation across the two tasks. These findings support a domain-specific model of monitoring and control in language production. | LeFrak 2208 |
Thursday, May 17th, 2018 2:00-4:00 | Melissa Stockbridge | HESP | Dissertation Defense: The role of personality on cognitive-linguistic deficits in teens and adults with mild TBI | Even the mildest form of traumatic brain injury, concussion, can result in adverse physical, cognitive, behavioral, and social consequences. Concussion injuries frequently result in patients who describe deficits in daily communication and overall “fogginess,” but whose deficits are not consistently captured on traditional assessments of language. The purpose of this research was two-fold: first, to examine typed written communication in order to better understand the kinds of cognitive and language deficits that adolescents and adults experience immediately and chronically following a concussion; and second, to examine the influence of a particular trait-like dimension of personality and temperament, the propensity toward more frequent, intense, and enduring negative affect (called dispositional negativity), on exacerbation of these deficits. Using a survey conducted entirely online, 92 participants aged 12-40 years old who had a recent concussion, a history of concussion, or no history of brain injury wrote two narrative samples and an expository sample, completed multiple tasks targeting word-level and domain general cognitive skills, and provided rich self-report information important to better understanding their personality, temperament, and mental health. Performance by recently injured participants suggested that deficits in narrative language, though likely influenced by problems in word-finding, memory, and attention, also existed beyond what could be explained by those deficits alone. Narrative-specific deficits were observed in written content, organization, and cohesiveness. Moreover, including dispositional negativity in models of concussion history (group) and self-reported somatic symptomology improved the sensitivity and specificity of these models, which supports the value of considering individual differences in personality when engaged in concussion management. | Language Science Center; room 2124 HJ Patterson Hall |
Seminar Series Archive: To see a list of previous HESP Seminars click here.
Certification Maintenance Hours:
Those who attend these seminars will be awarded Certification Maintenance Hours (CMHs). A CMH is 60 minutes of time spent as a learner and participant in a non-ASHA CEU professional development activity. CMHs are different from ASHA-approved CEUs, which are also offered through the department. ASHA permits the use of CMHs for the purpose of maintaining your CCCs. However, you are responsible for maintaining documentation verifying completion of each activity. Documentation will not be maintained on the ASHA CE Registry. For additional information about CMHs and ASHA certification requirements, please click here. Please be aware that state regulatory agencies and boards of education might not recognize or accept CMHs.