Speech, Physiology, and Neurobiology of Aging and Dementia Lab
The research objectives of the SPaN-AD lab are to better understand how speech motor control changes with normal and pathological aging, how cognitive function can impact speech motor control, and how age-related changes in speech motor control inform early diagnosis and progress monitoring of cognitive impairment due to AD.
To address these questions, we integrate multimodal electrophysical, biomechanical, and neuroimaging techniques to identify the underlying neural and physiological mechanisms of speech production in normal and pathological speech and determine the cerebrovascular, physiological, and neuropathological factors that influence speech deterioration and cognitive decline in populations with dementia. We also characterize the interplay between cognition and speech motor control and identify structural and functional changes in speech brain regions that occur due to aging and age-associated neurodegenerative diseases.
