Title: More than Meets the Ear: Multimodal Perspectives on Cognitive-Communication in Neurologic Injury and Disease

Speaker: Sharice Clough, PhD, CCC-SLP

Human communication is inherently multimodal. Speech, gesture, facial expression, and body movement are dynamically coordinated to construct meaning and support social interaction. Yet much of what we know about language and communication comes from approaches that prioritize speech, potentially overlooking aspects of how people communicate and the cognitive processes that support communication. This is particularly relevant for adults with neurologic injury or disease, whose cognitive-communication profiles may alter how communicative work is distributed across modalities. In this talk, I will give examples from my research on traumatic brain injury and Alzheimer’s disease to illustrate how multimodal approaches can reveal aspects of cognitive-communication that are not apparent from speech alone and advance our understanding of language as an adaptive and interactive system. I will also highlight emerging technologies for studying multimodal communication and share future directions for my research program on multimodal language in neurologic populations at the University of Iowa.

Zoom link for online seminars (used throughout the semester):

https://uiowa.zoom.us/j/97359327852?pwd=0HDya18oxt4Yg8FiBr4WAn0F5jnzMw.1

Meeting ID: 973 5932 7852 Passcode: 219629