Lisa Sanders

PhD, 2001, University of Oregon

Center for Research on Families

Healthy Development Initiative at Springfield

Initiative in Cognitive Science

Institute for Applied Life Sciences

Neuroscience & Behavior Graduate Program

Our ongoing research projects include:

LiveNoise and ClassNoise: We are developing new EEG and ERP measures of speech processing that will allow us to investigate the ability of listeners to process speech in noise in the real world. Our goal is to assess neural processing of speech in the actual communication settings that are most challenging for older adults and for young children. (Collaborators: Drs. Ahren Fitzroy and Kirby Deater-Deckard)

SpeechRate: Listeners use context speech rate to interpret timing parameters in speech in a manner that influences which phonemes, the number of phonemes, and even the number of words that are reported. We are interested in characteristics of talkers and listeners that influence perceptual adjustments to speech rate and the neural mechanisms that underlie speech rate calculations and their influence on speech processing. (Collaborators: Drs. Laura Dilley and Navin Viswanathan)

PrecedNoise: We are investigating how listeners use the precedence effect to achieve spatial separation of target speech from competing noise to provide significant release from information masking. Further, we are investigating the role of selective attention in processing speech in noise. (Collaborator: Dr. Rich Freyman)

PhonoLearn: This series of studies is designed to understand how children and adults represent and use information about phonological patterns. We hope to learn about factors that influence phonological learning and the use of learned representations in speech processing. (Collaborator: Dr. Joe Pater)

Emotrace: We are beginning to explore how emotional state influences rapid decision making about weapons and harmless objects in the context of race. (Collaborators: Drs. Ahren Fitzroy and Nilanjana Dasgupta)

AttTime: Selective attention is allocated across time as well as space and features. We are investigating how listeners allocate temporally selective attention during speech and music processing. We are particularly interested in how hierarchical metrical structure in external stimuli may influence the allocation of temporal attention. (Collaborators: Drs. Lori Astheimer and Ahren Fitzroy).

PhonoVio: We are developing an ERP index of processing phonological rule violations in continuous speech. This measure is expected to be important in understanding the role of phonological processing and rule representations in developmental language disorders including Specific Language Impairment and dyslexia. (Collaborator: Dr. Helen Neville)

CDACombo: We are interested in how people form search templates when looking for specific visual objects. Contralateral Delay Activity (CDA) can provide information about the number of stored representations that are constructed in anticipation of search for a target. (Collaborator: Dr. Kyle Cave)

ReStArt: The goals of this series of studies are 1) to measure the influence of rhythmic structure on speech segmentation and allocation of attention to speech, 2) to determine how lexical stress differentially impacts speech segmentation and attentional allocation, and 3) to measure the relative impact of segmentation and predictability on ERPs elicited by word onsets in continuous speech. To control all of the relevant factors, these studies are conducted using artificial languages. (Collaborator: Dr. Helen Neville)

I am currently focused on:

Teaching an undergraduate course on Sensation and Perception

Developing a new laboratory course on Methods in Cognitive Psychology

Fitzroy, A., & Sanders, L. D. (2015). Musical meter modulates the allocation of attention across time. Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience, 27, 2339-2351.

Zobel, B., Freyman, R., & Sanders, L. D. (2015). Attention is critical for spatial auditory object formation. Attention, Perception, & Psychophysics, 77, 1998-2010.

Morrill, T., McAuley, J. D., Dilley, L., Zdziarska, P., Jones, K., & Sanders, L. D. (2015). Distal prosody affects learning of novel words in an artificial language. Psychonomic Bulletin & Review, 22, 815-823.

Breen, M., Dilley, L., McAuley, J. D., & Sanders, L. D. (2014). Auditory evoked potentials reveal early perceptual effects of distal prosody on speech segmentation. Language, Cognition and Neuroscience, 29, 1132-1146.

Fitzroy, A., & Sanders, L. D. (2013). Musical expertise modulates early processing of syntactic violations in language. Frontiers in Psychology, 3:603, 1-15. doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2012.00603.

Breen, M., Kingston, J., & Sanders, L. D. (2013). Perceptual representations of phonotactically illegal syllables. Attention, Perception & Psychophysics, 75, 101-120.

Shen, E., Staub, A., Sanders, L. D. (2013). Event-related brain potential evidence that local nouns affect subject-verb agreement processing. Language and Cognitive Processes, 28, 498-524.

Sanders, L. D., & Zobel, B. (2012). Nonverbal spatially selective attention in 4- and 5-year-old children. Developmental Cognitive Neuroscience, 2, 317-328.

Astheimer, L., & Sanders, L. D. (2012). Temporally selective attention supports speech processing in 3- to 5-year-old children. Developmental Cognitive Neuroscience, 2, 120-128.

Astheimer, L., & Sanders, L. D. (2011). Predictability affects early perceptual processing of word onsets in continuous speech. Neuropsychologia, 49, 3512-3516.

Sanders, L. D., Zobel, B., Keen, R., & Freyman, R. (2011). Manipulations of listeners’ echo perception are reflected in event-related potentials. Journal of the Acoustical Society of America, 129, 301-309.

Sanders, L. D., Ameral, V., & Sayles, K. (2009). Event-related potentials index segmentation of nonsense sounds. Neuropsychologia, 47, 1183-1186.

Ashby, J. Sanders, L. D., & Kingston, J. (2009). Processing phonological features during visual word recognition: evidence from event-related potentials. Biological Psychology, 80, 84-94.

Astheimer, L., & Sanders, L. D. (2009). Listeners modulate temporally selective attention during natural speech processing. Biological Psychology, 80, 23-34.

Sanders, L. D., & Astheimer, L. (2008). Temporally selective attention modulates early perceptual processing: Event-related potential evidence. Perception & Psychophysics, 70, 732-742.

Sanders, L. D., Joh, A., Freyman, R., & Keen, R. (2008). One sound or two? Object-related negativity indexes echo perception. Perception & Psychophysics, 70, 1558-1570.

Sanders, L. D., Weber-Fox, C., & Neville, H. (2008). Varying degrees of plasticity in different subsystems within language. In James R. Pomerantz (Ed) Topics in Integrative Neuroscience: From Cells to Cognition (pp. 125-153). New York, NY: Cambridge University Press.

Stevens, C., Fanning, J., Coch, D., Sanders, L. D., & Neville, H. (2008). Neural mechanisms of selective auditory attention are enhanced by computerized training: Electrophysiological evidence from language-impaired and typically developing children. Brain Research, 1205, 55-69.

Sanders, L. D., & Poeppel, D. (2007). Local and global auditory processing: Behavioral and ERP evidence. Neuropsychologia, 45, 1172-1186.

Stevens, C., Sanders, L. D., & Neville, H. J. (2006). Neurophysiological evidence for selective auditory attention deficits in children with Specific Language Impairment. Brain Research, 1111, 143-152. 

Sanders, L. D., Stevens, C., Coch, D., & Neville, H. (2006). Selective auditory attention in 3- to 5-year-old children: An event-related potential study. Neuropsychologia, 44, 2126-2138.

Coch, D. J., Sanders, L. D., & Neville, H. J. (2005). An event-related potential study of selective auditory attention in children and adults. Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience, 17, 605-622.

Sanders, L. D., & Neville, H. J. (2003). An ERP study of continuous speech processing: I. Segmentation, semantics, and syntax in native speakers. Cognitive Brain Research, 15, 228-240.

Sanders, L. D., & Neville, H. J. (2003). An ERP study of continuous speech processing: II. Segmentation, semantics, and syntax in non-native speakers. Cognitive Brain Research, 15, 214-227.

Sanders, L. D., Newport, E. L., & Neville, H. J. (2002). Segmenting nonsense: An event-related potential index of perceived onsets in continuous speech. Nature Neuroscience, 5, 700-703.

Sanders, L. D., Neville, H. J., & Woldorff, M. (2002). Speech segmentation by native and non-native speakers: The use of lexical, syntactic, and stress-pattern cues. Journal of Speech, Language, and Hearing Research, 45, 519-530.

Sanders, L. D., & Neville, H. J. (2000). Lexical, syntactic, and stress-pattern cues for speech segmentation. Journal of Speech, Language, and Hearing Research, 43, 1301-1321.

Lori Astheimer (Behavioral Neuroscience, University of Massachusetts Amherst)

Kyle Cave (Cognitive Psychology, University of Massachusetts Amherst)

Nilanjana Dasgupta (Social Psychology, University of Massachusetts Amherst)

Kirby Deater-Deckard (Developmental Sciences, University of Massachusetts Amherst)

Laura Dilley (Communicative Sciences and Disorders, Michigan State University)

Ahren Fitzroy (Cognitive Neuroscience, University of Massachusetts Amherst)

Rich Freyman (Communication Disorders, University of Massachusetts Amherst)

Helen Neville (Institute for Neuroscience, University of Oregon)

Joe Pater (Linguistics, University of Massachusetts Amherst)

Navin Viswanathan (Speech, Language, and Hearing, University of Kansas

I studied developmental cognitive neuroscience with Dr. Helen Neville, selective attention with Drs. Steve Hillyard and Mike Posner, and neural organization of speech and auditory processing with Dr. David Poeppel. This training prepared me to develop my own research program at the University of Massachusetts Amherst beginning in 2005. My primary research goals are 1) to understand the neurocognitive mechanisms of basic auditory perception, speech perception, and selective attention across the life span, and 2) to determine how attentional control and perceptual learning can lead to better perceptual outcomes, including understanding speech in background noise. To accomplish these goals, we use behavioral, electrophysiological (EEG and ERP), and neuroimaging measures in listeners ranging from 20 months to 85 years of age.a