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Meet Our Team!

Dedication. Expertise. Passion.

Our research team is comprised of a group of enthusiastic researchers. The group consists of the lab director Dr. Polka, Ph.D./Master's students, lab coordinators, research assistants, and volunteers.

At the McGill Infant Speech Perception Lab, we all engage and work diligently together to create the most active and efficient research environment. Every step along the process is critical to achieving the most thorough and accurate studies, thus, the contribution of each individual plays a vital role in our research.

Lab Director

Dr. Polka earned her Bachelor of Science in Psychology at Slippery Rock State College in Pennsylvania in 1980.  She then completed an interdisciplinary Ph.D. in Experimental Psychology and Clinical Audiology at the University of South Florida in 1989 under the mentorship of Winifred Strange and James J. Jenkins.   Her doctoral research examined how language experience shapes speech perception.  With the support of an NIH National Research Service Award, she completed postdoctoral studies in Developmental Psychology at the University of British Columbia under the mentorship of Dr. Janet F. Werker. As a postdoctoral fellow, she investigated the development of speech perception during infancy which has been the main focus of her research program in subsequent years.  She has also conducted research on the assessment of hearing impairment and the impact of hearing loss on infant development. 

 

She began her career at McGill University in 1989.  

Publications & CV

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