Monica Wagner, Ph.D.

Dr. Monica Wagner conducts behavioral and electrophysiology research to understand how spoken words are recognized in auditory cortex in typical and atypical language learners. She examines electroencephalograms (EEGs) obtained from adults and adolescents who are typical language learners and from adolescents who have dyslexia, developmental language disorder, and/or auditory processing disorder. Each group of language learners includes native speakers of English, Polish or Spanish. By investigating neural responses to spoken words in people of different language backgrounds, she can identify cortical (high-level) brain responses that reflect the acoustic (physical) characteristics of the speech sound sequences within the spoken words and those aspects that reflect native language experience. The neural signals in auditory cortex that reflect native language experience are referred to as language-specific brain responses. Language-specific brain responses to the speech sound sequences of one’s native language are learned implicitly through simple pattern learning during childhood. These responses are critical in that they support rapid comprehension of language. Atypical language learners have been found to have deficits in implicit learning. Therefore, one long-term aim of our lab is to learn whether individuals with atypical patterns of language learning have language-specific neural responses to spoken words that are comparable to their peers. To achieve this and other investigative aims, various methods of EEG analysis are used including analysis of auditory evoked potentials (AEPs), measures of time-frequency, including spectral power and inter-trial phase locking, and measures of brain connectivity. Dr. Wagner’s research is funded by the National Institutes of Health (NIH).