Team | Infant Speech Lab

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

Priscilla Ferronato, PhD (Postdoctoral Fellow)

Priscilla is a Postdoctoral Fellow at the School of Communication Sciences and Disorders, McGill University. Her research focuses on the emergence of early movements, goal-directed behavior, and early care in young infants. Her postdoctoral research project investigates emotions through facial expressions during parent-infant interactions. Priscilla obtained her Bachelor of Physical Education and Master of Science in Human Movement Science from São Paulo State University, Brazil. Her Doctorate in Science was awarded by the School of Physical Education at São Paulo University, Brazil, and she participated in the Doctorate Sandwich Program at Umeå University, Sweden.

M. Fernanda Alonso, PhD.C. (PhD Candidate)

Fernanda is a PhD student in the Communication Sciences and Disorders program at McGill University. Her research areas of interest are in infant and adult speech perception using behavioral and neural methods. Her current research project investigates adult perception of infant speech, examining behavioral and neural responses. Specifically, her focus is on the acoustic factors that could influence innate responses to infant vocalizations, and she aims to explore the existence of an auditory cuteness. Fernanda completed her Speech and Language Pathology and Audiology degree at the University of Chile. She also holds a Diploma in Neuropsychology in children and adolescents, University of Chile and a Master of Science in Neuroscience and Education from Columbia University, USA.

Nicola Phillips, B.A. (PhD Student)

Nicola is a PhD student in the Communication Sciences and Disorders program at McGill University. Her research interests are in language acquisition, bilingualism, psycholinguistics, and sociolinguistics. Her PhD thesis examines the characteristics of infant-directed speech in bilingual families, focusing on the lexical diversity of bilingual input as well as the relationship between infant vocal maturity and caregiver responsiveness. She holds a Bachelor of Arts in Humanities (with French and Dutch) from University College London, United Kingdom.

Samin Moradi, B.Sc. (PhD student)

Samin is a PhD student in the Communication Sciences and Disorders program at McGill University. Her primary research areas are in pediatric hearing loss, infant speech perception, and auditory rehabilitation. Her interests lie in the typical development of speech perception and how its different domains are affected by hearing loss. Her current work is related to infant speech perception preferences and early perception of vocal emotions. She holds a Bachelor of Science in Audiology from Iran University of Medical Sciences, Iran.

Lei Zeng, M.Ed (Graduate Research Trainee)

Lei is a PhD student at Nanjing Normal University, China. She is a visiting Graduate Research Trainee in the Infant Speech Perception Lab at McGill University. Her primary research areas are in speech perception and production, speech prosody, second language acquisition, and bilingualism. Her current research project examines prosodic focus-marking in Thai learners of Mandarin. Lei obtained double Bachelor degrees in (1) Bachelor of Arts in Southwest University, China and Guizhou University of Engineering Science, China; (2) Bachelor of Education from Southwest University, China. She also holds a Master of Education from Yunnan University, China.

Sumana Abraham (Research Assistant)

Sumana is an undergraduate student in the Bachelor of Arts in Psychology program at McGill University, minoring in Behavioural Neuroscience. Her goal in working as a research assistant in the lab is to develop her research skills and is particularly interested in music therapy, and the links between music and emotion.

Marianne Chen-Ouellet (Research Assistant)

Marianne is an undergraduate student in the Bachelor of Arts in Psychology program at McGill University, minoring in Behavioural Science and Art History. Her passions lie in everything related to art and psychology and is particularly interested in bilingualism in children.

Leatisha Ramloll (Research Assistant)

Leatisha is an undergraduate student in the Bachelor of Arts and Science in Cognitive Science program at McGill University, minoring in Sociology. She is interested in studying the neural mechanisms of various human behaviours and phenomena.