The Sensorimotor Learning Lab at Acadia University studies how humans learn to produce, maintain, and remember complex movements such as speech production. The lab also studies the role of the brain's motor systems in language reception. More recently, we've started to examine the psychology and neuroscience of human-AI interactions. We tackle these problems using behavioural manipulations, noninvasive brain stimulation (TMS), neuroimaging, and computational modelling. 

Lab News 

01/2025: Paper published! "Memories of Hand Movements are Tied to Speech Through Learning" co-authored by former Acadia undergrads Maura Whitman and Gina Vaillancourt is out in Psychonomic Bulletin & Review! Congrats Maura and Gina! 

10/2024: Paper accepted! "Language Enables the Acquisition of Distinct Sensorimotor Memories for Speech" co-authored by Acadia undergrads Emma Wheeler and Sam Palatinus will be published in Cognition! Congrats Emma and Sam!

06/2024: Posters, posters, posters! The Lab presented two posters at the annual meeting of the Canadian Society for Brain, Behaviour, and Cognitive Science (CSBBCS) in Edmonton, Alberta. Students Lindsay Heyland and Sam Palatinus presented a poster titled, "Understanding the Role of Linguistic Context in the Sensorimotor Control of Bilingual Speech"; and Dan presented a poster on "Affinity in Human-Chatbot Interactions". 

06/2024: Paper accepted! "Sensorimotor learning during synchronous speech is modulated by the acoustics of the other voice" led by Dr. Abbie Bradshaw at Cambridge, with key work from Acadia undergrad Emma Wheeler, will be published in Psychonomic Bulletin & Review. 

08/2023: New preprint: "Language Enables the Acquisition of Distinct Sensorimotor Memories for Speech" co-authored by Acadia undergrad Emma Wheeler. 

07/2023: New preprint: Memories of Hand Movements are Tied to Speech Through Learning co-authored by two amazing undergrad lab members, Maura Whitman and Gina Vaillancourt. 

05/2023: Paper accepted! "Immediate Cross-Language Transfer of Novel Articulatory Plans for Speech in Bilinguals" was accepted for publication in the Journal of Experimental Psychology: General.

02/2023: Dan gave a talk on "AI in Academia" for the Maple League of Universities. You can watch a recording of the talk here.

12/2022: Dan has an essay at Slate: "AI Could Be Great for College Essays". Go read it! (or get a bot to read it to you)

10/2021: Paper published! "Reorganization of the Neurobiology of Language After Sentence Overlearning" has been published in Cerebral Cortex. 

07/2021: Paper published! "Speech Perception Under the Tent: A Domain-General Predictive Role for the Cerebellum" is out in the Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience. 

10/2020: Dan was interviewed by Trace McGill about his experiences in and out of academia. 

08/2020: In collaboration with Prof. Anne-Sophie Champod, the lab received a $927,533 grant from the Canadian Foundation for Innovation and Research Nova Scotia! 

04/2020: Paper published: "The perils of learning to move while speaking: One-sided interference between speech and visuomotor adaptation" is out in Psychonomic Bulletin and Review.  

09/2019: Dan received an Emerging Scholar Award from the Harrison McCain Foundation for a two-year study: "Language Representations in the Bilingual Brain"

04/2019: The lab received a five-year grant from the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council (NSERC) of Canada for a program of research investigating sensorimotor learning in speech and co-speech movements.

10/2018: Dan has a new paper in Current Biology with colleagues at Oxford and the University of Montreal: "Robust sensorimotor learning during variable sentence-level speech".

Are you interested in working in the lab as a student or postdoc? Please get in touch!