Samaana Jaffer
DARE Project: An experimental study on first language loss: Dutch immigrants in Canada
Program(s) of Study: Speech and Language Sciences
Project Supervisor: Liz Smeets
This experience strengthened my research, analytical, and problem-solving skills, all of which are valuable in the field of speech and language sciences. It also gave me a deeper understanding of language processing and evidence-based research, which will support my future studies and career in speech-language pathology.
Project Description:
My DARE research project examined how Dutch monolingual speakers interpret structurally ambiguous "who" and "what" questions using an online visual-world eye-tracking paradigm. The goal was to investigate whether participants show a preference for a subject or object interpretation of ambiguous Dutch sentences, and whether this preference differs depending on the type of wh-question. To accomplish this, I developed two parallel online experiments in PsychoPy Builder, integrating WebGazer to collect webcam-based eye-tracking data. Participants viewed visual scenes while listening to spoken Dutch questions and selected their interpretation by clicking on the corresponding image after the audio finished. My responsibilities included programming the experiments using Python in PsychoPy and JavaScript for the online Pavlovia implementation, creating and organizing the trial structure, defining areas of interest (AOIs), integrating eye tracking, testing and troubleshooting the experiments, and ensuring the studies were ready for data collection. I was also responsible for organizing, cleaning, and analyzing the eye-tracking and mouse-click data in R, processing data from multiple participants, and conducting statistical analyses to examine patterns in subject and object interpretations across the two experiments.The Dean’s Award for Research Excellence (DARE) - Undergraduate enables our students to meaningfully engage in research projects supervised by LA&PS faculty members. Find out more about DARE.