Caroline A Niziolek, PhD
Position title: Assistant Professor, Communication Sciences and Disorders
PhD, Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Assistant Professor, Communication Sciences and Disorders
Contact Information:
Waisman Center
1500 Highland Avenue
Room 485
Madison, WI 53705
608-890-0192
cniziolek@wisc.edu
Brain, Language, & Acoustic Behavior (BLAB) Lab
Research Statement
My research centers on three questions in spoken communication and its neural underpinnings:
- How does what we hear affect what we say? Whenever we speak, our message is transmitted not only to our audience, but to our own ears. Auditory feedback—what we hear when we speak—enables us to learn and maintain speaking skills and to rapidly correct errors in our speech. By combining neuroimaging (fMRI, M/EEG, ECoG) with behavioral measures, my research has characterized speech feedback processing and what purpose it serves in communication.
- How do our cognitive and linguistic goals affect our speech? How do the higher-level properties that make up language influence the low-level sensorimotor control that causes movement and sound? Speech is a motor act like reaching or grasping, but unlike hand and limb movements, only speech results in an auditory signal whose primary purpose is communication. My work investigates the way in which our acoustic behavior depends on the particular communicative goal we are trying to achieve. For example, both vowels and pitch are important for speaking, but pitch is more important for singing, and this translates into a greater neural sensitivity to the pitch of our own voice as we sing.
- How can we leverage these effects for speech learning and rehabilitation? My ongoing work studies how the feedback system functions in persons with aphasia, many of whom have deficits in speech production and error awareness. I am developing laboratory studies of speech skill learning that can be translated to training interventions for speakers such as these who have trouble consistently producing auditory targets. My proposed training consists of vocal games that map speech to a real-time visual display. These visual speech training games have the potential to be adapted into tools to improve speech production in individuals with speech impairment, including deaf speakers and children with developmental speech and language disorders.
Selected Publications
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Krakauer, J., Naber, C., Niziolek, C. A., & Parrell, B. (2024). Divided Attention Has Limited Effects on Speech Sensorimotor Control. Journal of speech, language, and hearing research : JSLHR, 1–11. Advance online publication. https://doi.org/10.1044/2024_JSLHR-24-00098
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Miller, H. E., Kearney, E., Nieto-Castañón, A., Falsini, R., Abur, D., Acosta, A., Chao, S. C., Dahl, K. L., Franken, M., Heller Murray, E. S., Mollaei, F., Niziolek, C. A., Parrell, B., Perrachione, T., Smith, D. J., Stepp, C. E., Tomassi, N., & Guenther, F. H. (2023). Do Not Cut Off Your Tail: A Mega-Analysis of Responses to Auditory Perturbation Experiments. Journal of speech, language, and hearing research : JSLHR, 66(11), 4315–4331. https://doi.org/10.1044/2023_JSLHR-23-00315
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Tang, D. L., Niziolek, C. A., & Parrell, B. (2023). Modulation of somatosensation by transcranial magnetic stimulation over somatosensory cortex: a systematic review. Experimental brain research, 241(4), 951–977. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00221-023-06579-9
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Tang, D. L., Parrell, B., & Niziolek, C. A. (2022). Movement variability can be modulated in speech production. Journal of neurophysiology, 128(6), 1469–1482. https://doi.org/10.1152/jn.00095.2022
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Hantzsch, L., Parrell, B., & Niziolek, C. A. (2022). A single exposure to altered auditory feedback causes observable sensorimotor adaptation in speech. eLife, 11, e73694. https://doi.org/10.7554/eLife.73694
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Niziolek, C. A., & Parrell, B. (2021). Responses to Auditory Feedback Manipulations in Speech May Be Affected by Previous Exposure to Auditory Errors. Journal of speech, language, and hearing research : JSLHR, 64(6S), 2169–2181. https://doi.org/10.1044/2020_JSLHR-20-00263
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Cheng, H. S., Niziolek, C. A., Buchwald, A., & McAllister, T. (2021). Examining the Relationship Between Speech Perception, Production Distinctness, and Production Variability. Frontiers in human neuroscience, 15, 660948. https://doi.org/10.3389/fnhum.2021.660948
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Parrell, B., & Niziolek, C. A. (2021). Increased speech contrast induced by sensorimotor adaptation to a nonuniform auditory perturbation. Journal of neurophysiology, 125(2), 638–647. https://doi.org/10.1152/jn.00466.2020
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Bakst, S., & Niziolek, C. A. (2021). Effects of syllable stress in adaptation to altered auditory feedback in vowels. The Journal of the Acoustical Society of America, 149(1), 708. https://doi.org/10.1121/10.0003052
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Niziolek CA, Kiran S. (2018). Assessing speech correction abilities with acoustic analyses: Evidence of preserved online correction in persons with aphasia. International Journal of Speech Language Pathology, 22:1-11. doi: 10.1080/17549507.2018.1498920.
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Martin CD, Niziolek CA, Duñabeitia JA, Perez A, Hernandez D, Carreiras M, Houde JF. (2018). Online Adaptation to Altered Auditory Feedback Is Predicted by Auditory Acuity and Not by Domain-General Executive Control Resources. Frontiers in Human Neuroscience, 12:91. doi: 10.3389/fnhum.2018.00091.
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Niziolek CA, Nagarajan SS, Houde JF. (2015) The contribution of auditory feedback to corrective movements in vowel formant trajectories. In The Scottish Consortium for ICPhS 2015 (Ed.), Proceedings of the 18th International Congress of Phonetic Sciences. Glasgow, UK: the University of Glasgow. ISBN 978-0-85261-941-4.
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Niziolek CA, Nagarajan SS, Houde JF. (2013) What does motor efference copy represent? Evidence from speech production. Journal of Neuroscience. 9;33(41):16110-6. doi: 10.1523/JNEUROSCI.2137-13.2013.
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Sitek KR, Mathalon DH, Roach BJ, Houde JF, Niziolek CA, Ford JM. (2013) Auditory cortex processes variation in our own speech. PLoS One. 13;8(12):e82925. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0082925.
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Niziolek CA, Guenther FH. (2013) Vowel category boundaries enhance cortical and behavioral responses to speech feedback alterations. Journal of Neuroscience. 33(41):16110–16116.
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Chang EF, Niziolek CA, Knight R, Nagarajan SS, Houde JF. (2013) Human cortical sensorimotor network underlying feedback control of vocal pitch. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. 110(7):2653–2658.