ABOUT SPEAKIN LAB
SPEAKin lab is a team of psycholinguists and cognitive neuroscientists investigating language learning and processing. Our research focuses on three main areas of language cognition: first language acquisition and adaptation across the lifespan, learning second and additional languages, and language dynamics across dialects and in social interaction. Members of SPEAKin lab are affiliated with the Faculty of Arts, the Faculty of Medicine at Charles University, the Institute of Psychology of the Czech Academy of Sciences, and the neonatology and paediatrics department at Havlíčkův Brod Hospital.
Our work has been funded from various internal and external sources. We have been supported by grants from the Czech Science Foundation, Charles University Grant Agency (all PhD candidates working in our lab have succeeded in student grant competitions with their PhD projects!), European Regional Development Fund, the Czech Ministry of Education, Youth and Sports, and by programs supporting excellent research from both Charles University (the Primus program) and the Czech Academy of Sciences (the Lumina Quaeruntur award).
We have a babylab at Voršilská 1 in Prague where we test babies, pre-school and school-age children in child friendly and fun environment using safe and age appropriate methods. A Moravian branch of our babylab is located at Palacký University in Olomouc with equally (or perhaps even more) baby friendly environment and use of identical research methods as those in our Prague lab.
ABOUT BABYLAB VORŠILSKÁ
Babylab Voršilská is a research laboratory where we study the cognitive and language development of infants and children from birth to school age. In our research, we use behavioral methods, and some of our studies also use non-invasive, stress-free neuroimaging methods, such as EEG and NIRS. Babylab is a joint workplace of the Faculty of Arts at Charles University and the Institute of Psychology of the Czech Academy of Sciences. In the past, you may have visited us at Hybernská, but we are now located at Voršilská 1.
Would you like to participate in our speech and language development research with your child? You can sign up using the button below and by filling out the registration form. Or feel free to email us at babylab@ff.cuni.cz.
WHAT’S OUR GOAL?
For several years now, we have been mapping the typical language development of children growing up in Czech-speaking environments, whether monolingual or bilingual. These insights are crucial for understanding how children acquire language, for diagnosing atypical development, and for learning additional languages at a later age. We aim to map not only typical development but also atypical patterns. Currently, we are also studying language acquisition in children with hearing and neurodevelopmental disorders. These findings are vital for early diagnosis and effective intervention.
Beyond the babylab our research revolves around foreign language learning in older children and adults. We have been studying language learning and language adaptation in adolescents, young and older adults, as well as the elderly. We try to identify which mechanisms underlie language learning in adults and older children and under which conditions they come to resemble the language learning processes in infancy and early childhood.
Interested in learning more about our research? Have a look at some of our projects below or in the Our Projects section.
SOME OF OUR CURRENT BABYLAB PROJECTS
THANK YOU FOR TAKING PART IN OUR RESEARCH!