Welcome to the Speech, Sign, and Systems Lab at the University of Iowa!

In the Speech, Sign, and Systems Lab, our mission is to explore how individuals perceive, categorize, and adapt to linguistically rich and variable environments. Directed by Dr. Ethan Kutlu, our research bridges speech sciences, psycholinguistics, cognitive science, computational linguistics, and network science. We investigate the underlying mechanisms of speech perception, language development, and dynamic categorization processes that enable flexible communication and comprehension.

Our interdisciplinary methods include eye tracking, electroencepholography, computational modeling, and behavioral experimentation. We aim to understand how cognitive systems leverage linguistic variability to optimize language processing, and how this adaptability facilitates robust speech understanding in complex communicative contexts.