the Language in Social Context (LISC) Lab

Language communication is a complex cooperative process between interlocutors. In this process, speakers and listeners have to integrates cues from different sources, in addition to the literal meaning of utterances, to arrive at the intended meaning. These cues include world knowledge, the context of the utterances, conventions of social communication, as well as speaker/listener knowledgeability and social identity. In our lab, we aim to understand which social and contextual factors affect the interpretation and production of language, and specifically, of non-literal pragmatic interpretation. We use various experimental tools to test this in neurotypical populations across their entire lifespan (children, young adults and older adults), as well as in atypical populations (such as ASD).