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Professor Sven Mattys

Professor of Psychology of Language

telephone: +44 (0)117 92 88449 email: Sven.Mattys@bris.ac.uk

Room 1D22

Language Group


Call for LCP-CNL special issue on Speech Recognition in Adverse Conditions.
Submission deadline: 30 November 2010.

Speech Workshop March 2010

Biographical details

2010 - present: Professor in Experimental Psychology. University of Bristol.

2004 - 2010: Reader in Experimental Psychology. University of Bristol.

2001 - 2004: Lecturer in Experimental Psychology. University of Bristol.

1999 - 2000: Advanced Research Associate, Department of Communication Neuroscience, House Ear Institute, Los Angeles, CA.

1997 - 1999: Postdoctorate, Johns Hopkins University, Department of Psychology and Cognitive Science, Baltimore, MD.

1993 - 1997: Ph.D. in Psychology. State University of New York at Stony Brook, Stony Brook, NY.

1988 - 1993: License (B.A.) in Psychology. Université Libre de Bruxelles, Brussels, Belgium.

Teaching and administration



Director of Postgraduate Studies

Currently, I co-teach Level-3 ‘Psychology of Language' and run a Level-1 laboratory class. I also teach a variety of modules for our MSc in Research Methods in Psychology and MSc in Neuropsychology.

Research interests

Key words: speech, spoken-word recognition, language acquisition.

My background is in experimental psycholinguistics. I am particularly interested in the perceptual, cognitive, and physiological mechanisms underlying spoken word recognition. Although the populations I have investigated so far (normal-hearing adults, hearing-impaired adults, and infants) vary widely in their quantitative and qualitative exposure to the spoken language, a number of research questions apply to all of them: How are novel spoken words learned? What is the time-course of speech processing? How is speech segmentation carried out? How are words represented in the lexicon? My current research direction focuses on speech segmentation and lexical processing in normal-hearing adults. Investigation tools include principally behavioral measures of speech perception and word recognition such as response accuracy, reaction times, and auditory illusions.


Recent and current grants

ESRC, 2011-2013.
How does cognitive load affect speech recognition?
Mattys, S.L.

Marie Curie Research Training Network (RTN), 2007-2011.
Sound to Sense
Mattys, S.L. (Bristol co-investigator). See other co-investigators here

The Leverhulme Trust, 2007-2010.
A corpus-based investigation of natural speech segmentation.
Mattys, S.L.

ESRC, 2007-2008.
Effects of processing load on speech segmentation.
Mattys, S.L.

British Academy, 2006-2007.
Is rhythmic typology categorical or gradient? A study of first language Italian and second language English.
Mattys, S.L. & White L.

ESRC, 2005-2006.
Is speech perception influenced by top-down feedback?
Davis, C., Bowers, J.S., & Mattys, S.L.

ESRC, 2005-2008.
The impact of early language experience on later speech perception.
Bowers, J.S. & Mattys, S.L.

BBSRC, 2003-2006.
The Hierarchical Model of speech segmentation.
Mattys, S.L.

British Academy, 2003-2004.
The perceptual segmentation of speech: Evidence from the migration paradigm.
Mattys, S.L.

ESRC, 2002-2005.
Investigating lexical activation and speech segmentation through pause detection.
Mattys, S.L.

PhD students supervised and co-supervised

Linda Stefansdottir, 2009-present, ESRC studentship
Olesya Rauch, 2007-present, Marie Curie "Sound to Sense" Research Training Network studentship.
Helen Miller, 2001-2009, NHS research and Development fund
Zeng Biao, 2003-2008, ORS Studentship


Publications

Mattys, S.L. & Wiget, L. (in press). Effects of cognitive load on speech recognition. Journal of Memory and Language. pdf_file

Mattys, S.L. (in press). Speech perception. In D. Reisberg (Ed.), Oxford Handbook of Cognitive Psychology. Oxford University Press. pdf_file

Dilley, L. C., Mattys, S. L., & Vinke, L. (2010). Potent prosody: Comparing the effects of distal prosody, proximal prosody, and semantic context on word segmentation. Journal of Memory and Language. pdf_file

Mattys, S.L., Carroll, L. M., Li, C. K. W., & Chan, S. L. Y. (2010). Effects of energetic and informational masking on speech segmentation by native and non-native speakers. Speech Communication. pdf_file

Wiget, L., White, L., Schuppler. B., Grenon, I., Rauch, O., & Mattys, S.L. (2010). How stable are acoustic metrics of contrastive speech rhythm? Journal of the Acoustical Society of America, 127, 1559-1569 pdf_file

White, L., Melhorn, J.F, & Mattys, S.L. (2010). Segmentation by lexical subtraction in Hungarian L2 speakers of English. Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology, 63, 544-554 pdf_file

Mattys, S.L., Brooks, J., & Cooke, M. (2009). Recognizing speech under a processing load: Dissociating energetic from informational factors. Cognitive Psychology, 59, 203-243. pdf_file

Liss, J.M., White, L., Mattys, S.L., Lansford, K.L., Lotto, A.J., Spitzer, S.M., & Caviness, J.N. (2009). Distinguishing dysarthrias using rhythm metrics. Journal of Speech, Language, and Hearing Research, 52, 1334-1352. pdf_file

Bowers, J.S., Mattys, S.L., & Gage, S.H. (2009). Preserved implicit knowledge of a forgotten childhood language. Psychological Science, 20, 1064-1069. pdf_file

Bowers, J.S., Davis, C.J., Mattys, S.L., & Damian, M.F., & Hanley, D. (2009). The activation of embedded words in spoken word identification is robust but constrained: Evidence from the picture-word interference paradigm. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Human Perception and Performance, 35, 1585-1597 pdf_file

Scarborough, R., Keating, P., Mattys, S.L., Cho, & T., Alwan, A. (2009). Optical phonetics and visual perception of lexical and phrasal stress in English. Language and Speech, 51, 135-175. pdf_file

Toro, J.M., Sebastián-Gallés, N., & Mattys, S.L. (2009). The role of perceptual salience during the segmentation of connected speech. European Journal of Cognitive Psychology, 21, 786-800. pdf_file

Mattys, S.L. & Liss, J.M. (2008). On building models of spoken-word recognition: When there is as much to learn from natural "oddities" as from artificial normality. Perception & Psychophysics, 70, 1235-1242. pdf_file

Spitzer, S.M., Liss, J.M., & Mattys, S.L. (2007). Acoustic cues to lexical segmentation: A study of resynthesized speech. Journal of the Acoustical Society of America, 122, 3678-3687. pdf_file

White, L. & Mattys, S.L. (2007). Calibrating rhythm: First language and second language studies. Journal of Phonetics, 35, 501-522. pdf_file

Mattys, S.L. & Melhorn, J.F. (2007). Sentential, lexical, and acoustic effects on the perception of word boundaries. Journal of the Acoustical Society of America, 122, 554-567. pdf_file

Mattys, S.L., Melhorn, J.F., & White, L. (2007). Effects of syntactic expectations on speech segmentation. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Human Perception and Performance, 33, 960-977. pdf_file

White, L. & Mattys, S.L. (2007). Rhythmic typology and variation in first and second languages. In P. Prieto, J. Mascaró, & M.-J. Solé (Eds.), Segmental and Prosodic Issues in Romance Phonology. Current Issues in Linguistic Theory series (pp.237-257). Amsterdam: John Benjamins. pdf_file

Mattys, S.L. & Melhorn, J.F (2005). How do syllables contribute to the perception of spoken English? Evidence from the migration paradigm. Language and Speech, 48, 223-253. pdf_file

Mattys, S.L., Pleydell-Pearce, C. W., Melhorn, J.F., & Whitecross, S.E. (2005). Detecting silent pauses in speech: A new tool for measuring on-line lexical and semantic processing. Psychological Science, 16, 958-964. pdf_file

Mattys, S.L., White, L., & Melhorn, J.F (2005). Integration of multiple speech segmentation cues: A hierarchical framework. Journal of Experimental Psychology: General, 134, 477-500. pdf_file

Mattys, S.L. (2004). Stress versus coarticulation: Towards an integrated approach to explicit speech segmentation. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Human Perception and Performance, 30, 397-408. pdf_file

Mattys, S.L. & Clark, J.H. (2002). Lexical activity in speech processing: Evidence from pause detection. Journal of Memory and Language, 47, 343-359. pdf_file

Mattys, S.L., Bernstein, L.E., & Auer, E.T., Jr. (2002). Stimulus-based lexical distinctiveness as a general word recognition mechanism. Perception & Psychophysics, 64, 667-679. pdf_file

Mattys, S.L. & Jusczyk, P.W. (2001). Do infants segment words or continuous recurring patterns? Journal of Experimental Psychology: Human Perception and Performance, 27, 644-655. pdf_file

Mattys, S.L. & Jusczyk, P.W. (2001). Phonotactic cues for segmentation of fluent speech by infants. Cognition, 78, 91-121. pdf_file

Mattys, S.L. (2000). The perception of primary and secondary stress in English. Perception & Psychophysics, 62, 253-265. pdf_file

Mattys, S.L. & Samuel, A.G. (2000). Implications of stress pattern differences in spoken word recognition. Journal of Memory and Language, 42, 571-596. pdf_file

Alegria, J., Charlier, B., & Mattys, S.L. (1999). The role of lip-reading and cued speech in the processing of phonological information in French-educated deaf children. European Journal of Cognitive Psychology, 11, 451-472. pdf_file

Mattys, S.L., Jusczyk, P.W., Luce, P.A., & Morgan, J.L. (1999). Phonotactic and prosodic effects on word segmentation in infants. Cognitive Psychology, 38, 465-494. pdf_file

Mattys, S.L. (1997). The use of time during lexical processing and segmentation: A review. Psychonomic Bulletin & Review, 4, 310-329. pdf_file

Mattys, S.L. & Samuel, A.G. (1997). How lexical stress affects speech segmentation and interactivity: Evidence from the migration paradigm. Journal of Memory and Language, 36, 87-116. pdf_file

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