Tuesday, 6 December 2016

The SST2016 Conference kicks off with a tutorial day held at the Female Orphan School, on Western Sydney University’s Parramatta South Campus. Participants can choose to attend three different tutorials, with the option of either one full-day tutorial, or two half-day tutorials. Lunch will be provided.

• Registration for the full day session with Professor R. Harald Baayen costs $30 AUD for ASSTA student members, $50 for student non-members, $80 for ASSTA members and $120 for non ASSTA members.
• Registration for the half day morning session with A/Professor Leher Singh costs $20 AUD for ASSTA student members, $30 for student non-members, $50 for ASSTA members and $80 for non ASSTA members.
• Registration for the half day afternoon session with Dr Michael Proctor costs $20 AUD for ASSTA student members, $30 for student non-members, $50 for ASSTA members and $80 for non ASSTA members. Registrants for this tutorial are requested to bring a laptop with Matlab preloaded.

To register, please go to the registration page. Those attending the conference can complete their Tutorial Day registration when they register for the conference. Alternatively, there is an option to register for the Tutorial Day without registering for the conference.

Full Day Course

An introduction to Generalized Additive Mixed Models

Professor R. Harald Baayen, University of Tuebingen
Webpage: www.sfs.uni-tuebingen.de/~hbaayen

Generalized additive mixed models (GAMMs) are an extension of the generalized linear mixed model that provides the analyst with a wide range of tools to model nonlinear functional dependencies in two or more dimensions (wiggly regression curves, wiggly regression surfaces and hypersurfaces).

GAMMs, which are implemented in the mgcv package for R by Simon Wood, provide a substantial and non-trivial addition to the toolkit of experimental psychology and experimental linguistics. Optimized smooths make it possible to discover and model nonlinear trends in time series data, ranging from the successive reaction times in simple behavioral experiments and pitch contours to the amplitude of the EEG in response to stimuli and tongue movements as measured by means of electromagnetic articulography.

Furthermore, GAMMs make it possible to properly model nonlinear interactions between numerical predictors, allowing researchers to gain insight into, for instance, how fixation duration varies as a function of fixation position and lexical frequency.

One important extension with respect to the linear mixed model is the possibility to relax the linearity assumption for random effects. In the context of the classic linear mixed-effects model, random intercepts combined with random slopes make it possible to calibrate regression lines to the levels of random effect factors (e.g., subjects). The factor smooths in GAMMs provide a non-linear extension, enabling the modeling of nonlinear “random” curves instead of “random” straight lines.

In the first part of this tutorial, basic concepts will be introduced and a range of examples from the language sciences will be presented. The second part of the tutorial is a lab session with guided worked examples of real experimental data.

Half Day Courses

Morning

Language and Cognitive Development in Bilingual Infants

Associate Professor Leher Singh, National University of Singapore
Webpage: http://blog.nus.edu.sg/babytalk/

Research with bilingual children can present distinct and unique methodological challenges and considerations. In this tutorial, I will review some key differences in language processing between monolingual and bilingual children. I will also discuss challenges that accompany research with bilingual populations in addition to some tools for resolving these challenges. This tutorial would be suitable for those looking to embark on laboratory research with bilingual populations.

Afternoon

Investigating Speech Production using the X-ray Microbeam Database

Dr Michael Proctor, Macquarie University
Webpage: http://mproctor.net/

The X-ray microbeam (XRMB) database (Westbury 1994) is an open source speech production database, containing articulatory data from 57 speakers of American English. The type and scope of data makes it a unique resource for speech research, but effective use of the database requires special tools and techniques.

In this workshop, we will provide an overview of the database, and a practical introduction to analyzing fleshpoint tracking data in Matlab. We will work with tools for analyzing articulatory gestures (Browman & Goldstein 1992; Tiede 2010), and present a workflow for identifying and exporting gestural timing data. We will conclude by examining examples of articulatory variability between speakers, and discuss methods for describing speaker-specific patterns of production.

Attendees are advised to bring a laptop with a recent version of Matlab installed. Familiarity with working in a Matlab environment is advised, but not essential.