Prosody as a beacon for understanding a speaker’s stance and intentions

Marc D. Pell, de l’Université McGill

Prof. Pell’s research investigates how adults communicate their emotions, attitudes, or other social intentions while speaking, to better understand the social-pragmatic context of spoken language.

Much of his work focuses on the effects of the human voice during pragmatic language processing and in social cognition. Members of his lab are exploring the neurocognitive basis of vocal communication, how this system is influenced by socio-cultural factors, and how vocal communication is influenced by acquired disease of the brain (e.g., Parkinson’s disease, repetitive head injury). Behavioural paradigms, acoustic analysis, neuroinvestigative techniques (ERPs, fMRI), and neuropsychological assessments of brain-damaged adults are being used to test these ideas.