We define ‘fluency’ as the efficiency of goal-directed action in our everyday interactions with the world. Simply put, fluency is the embodiment of the principle of least action, from which fast, smooth, and effortless behavior emerges from the optimal balance of the capacity to act (including knowledge and motivation) and the active realization of that capacity. Fluent behaviors emerge when an agent’s capacity and activity are minimized over time. Disorders of speech fluency, such as stuttering and cluttering, can be conceptualized as the involuntary, transient, and chronic failure of sustaining this minimization process, resulting in overt moments of inhibition or ‘stuckness’ in the initiation of syllables (classically categorized as speech blocks, prolongations, and repetitions) and a more covert metacognitive lack of agency in communication, such as conflicting motivations, avoidance behaviors, and feelings of fear and shame in communicative environments. 

Our lab focuses on the neurophysiological and behavioral markers of fluency in speech-language production, including the relevant cognitive, emotional, linguistic, and motoric processes that underlie fluency and fluency disorders, such as stuttering. 

In our laboratory, we use electrophysiological, acoustic, kinematic, and and computational methods to better understand fluency with the goal of improving assessment and treatment approaches for clinicians in speech-language pathology and other health professions. We research speech and language ability at multiple levels of analysis, includes measures of speech rhythm and fragmentation (acoustics), brain function (EEG and fMRI), autonomic nervous system activation, neuromuscular activation (EMG), articulatory kinematics (motion capture), and perceptible speech behavior.