Doctor Christine Kitamura
SENIOR LECTURER,
Social, Personal & Developmental Psychology (SoSSP
Personal
Qualifications
- BA University of New South Wales
- PHD University of New South Wales
UWS Organisational Unit (School / Division)
- Social, Personal & Developmental Psychology (SoSSP
Contact
| Email: | C.Kitamura@uws.edu.au |
|---|---|
| Extension: | 6556 |
| Mobile: | 0402021496 |
| Location: | 24.1.34 Bankstown |
| Website: |
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Biography
I obtained my PhD from the University of New South Wales in 1999, and my expertise is in the area of language acquisition and infant-directed speech. My long-held pursuit has been to understand how exposure to the exaggerated emotional prosody embodied in infant-directed speech functions to (i) maintain infant attention, (ii) facilitate early mother-infant communication, and (iii) bootstrap language acquisition. The exploration of the function of infant directed input has led me to probe the interface of infant-directed speech and language acquisition, including two common conditions that hinder it: infant hearing impairment and at- risk status of dyslexia. How such conditions undermine mother-infant interaction and speech acquisition not only inform models of speech perception and dyadic interaction, but also have implications for the design of infant hearing prostheses, intervention programs for language-impaired children, and the modelling of human interactive behaviour more generally.
My current research interests focus on: (1) Auditory-visual speech processing using naturally expressive continuous speech (infant directed speech) to chart the development of infants’ sensitivity to visual prosodic and articulatory cues conveyed by motion in different regions of the face and head. (2) The use of accent variation to probe how normal children, and those with language difficulties (dyslexia and autism) develop word constancy across different accents (pronunciations) of the same word. The development of a precursory pattern is seen in infants who, by 9 months, show undifferentiated responses to their own and another accent signalling the emergence of language constancy, or the recognition that different accents belong to a common language.
This information has been contributed by Doctor Kitamura.
Interests
- accent perception
- auditory-visual speech
- hearing impairment
- infant directed speech
- mother-infant interactions
Teaching
Current Teaching Areas
- 101676 Human Learning
Previous Teaching Areas
- 100023 Psychology of Language, 2012
- 101676 Human Learning, 2012
Publications
Chapters in Books
- Best, C. and Kitamura, C. (2012), 'Accent on language development: using dialects to trace how children come to recognise spoken words', Psychology: 3rd Australian and New Zealand Edition, Wiley 9781742166445.
- Best, C., Best, C. and Kitamura, C. (2012), 'Accent on language development : using dialects to trace how children come to recognise spoken words', Psychology, John Wiley & Sons Australia 9781742166445.
- Burnham, D., Kitamura, C. and Mattock, K. (2007), 'Psycholinguistics meets Psycholinguistics: different emphases, sustainable collaborations', Unfolding linguistics in honour of Sudaporn Luksaneeyanawin, Chulalongkorn University Press 9789749897690.
Journal Articles
- Lam, C. and Kitamura, C. (2012), 'Mommy, speak clearly : induced hearing loss shapes vowel hyperarticulation', Developmental Science, 10.
- Lam, C. and Kitamura, C. (2012), 'Mommy, speak clearly : induced hearing loss shapes vowel hyperarticulation', Developmental Science, 10.
- Beach, E. and Kitamura, C. (2011), 'Modified Spectral Tilt Affects Older, but Not Younger, Infants' Native-Language Fricative Discrimination', Journal of Speech, Language and Hearing Research, 10.
- Lam, C. and Kitamura, C. (2010), 'Maternal Interactions with a Hearing and Hearing-Imparied Twin: Similarities and Differences in Speech Input, Interaction Quality, and Word Production', Journal of Speech, Language, and Hearing Research, 13.
- Kitamura, C. and Lam, C. (2009), 'Age-Specific Preferences for Infant-Directed Affective Intent', Infancy, 24.
- Kitamura, C. and Notley, A. (2009), 'The shift in infant preferences for vowel duration and pitch contour between 6 and 10 months of age', Developmental Science, 9.
- Panneton, R., Kitamura, C., Mattock, K. and Burnham, D. (2006), 'Slow Speech Enhances Younger But not older infants' perception of Vocal Emotion', Research in Human Development, 13.
- Agung, K., Purdy, S. and Kitamura, C. (2005), 'The Ling Sound Test Revisited', The Australian and New Zealand Journal of Audiology, 9.
- Kitamura, C. and Burnham, D. (2003), 'Pitch and communicative intent in mother's speech: Adjustments for age and sex in the first year.', Infancy, 26.
- Kitamura, C., Thanavishuth, C., Burnham, D. and Luksaneeyanawin, S. (2002), 'Universality of specificity in infant-directed speech: Pitch modifications as a function of infant age and sex in a tonal and non-tonal language.', Infant Behaviour and Development, 21.
- Burnham, D., Kitamura, C. and Vollmer-Conna, U. (2002), 'What's new, pussycat? On talking to babies and animals.', Science, 1.
- Beach, F., Burnham, D. and Kitamura, C. (2001), 'Bilingualisam and the relationship between perception and production: Greek-English', International Journal of Bilingualism, 15.
Conference Papers
- Kim, J., Davis, C. and Kitamura, C. (2012), 'Auditory-visual speech to infants and adults: Signals and correlations', Interspeech 2012, Portland, Oregon, US.
- Kim, J., Davis, C. and Kitamura, C. (2012), 'Auditory-visual speech to infants and adults : signals and correlations', Interspeech, Portland, Or..
- Kitamura, C. and Kim, J. (2010), 'Infants match auditory and visual speech in schematic point-light displays', 9th International Conference on Auditory-Visual Speech Processing, Japan.
- Lam, C. and Kitamura, C. (2008), 'Your Baby Can't Hear You: How Mothers Talk to Infants with Simulated Hearing Loss', Interspeech 2008, Brisbane, Australia.
- Beach, E., Kitamura, C., Dillon, H., Ching, T. and Burnham, D. (2008), 'The effect of spectral tilt on infants' discrimination of fricatives', Interspeech 2008, Brisbane Australia.
- Xu, N., Burnham, D. and Kitamura, C. (2007), 'Vowels and Tones in Infant Directed Speech: Hyperarticulation for Both, but different Developmental Patterns', Interspeech 2007, Antwerp, Belgium.
- Kitamura, C., Panneton, R., Diehl, M. and Notley, A. (2006), 'Attuning to the native dialect: When more means less', 11th Australian International Conference on Speech Science & Technology, University of Auckland.
- Lam, C. and Kitamura, C. (2006), 'Developmental trends in infant preferences for affective intent in mothers' speech', 11th Australian International Conference on Speech Science & Technology, University of Auckland.
- Kitamura, C. and Lorenzo, J. (2004), 'Vowel Duration and Pitch Contour as Contenders for Infant Attention', 10th Australian International Conference on Speech Science and Technology, Macquarie University, Sydney.
Research
infant-directed speech, language acquisition, accent perception, word learning, auditory-visual speech perception, mother-infant interaction, hearing and hearing impairment, dyslexia.
This information has been contributed by Doctor Kitamura.
Current Projects
| Title: | Children's generalisation and adaptation to unfamiliar regional accents reveal the path of early word learning |
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| Years: | 2013-02-01 - 2016-01-31 |
| ID: | P00020819 |
| UWS Researchers: | Catherine Best and Christine Kitamura |
| Funding: |
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| Title: | From Talking Heads to Thinking Heads: A Research Platform for Human Communication Science |
| Years: | 2006-10-31 - 2013-12-31 |
| ID: | P0015054 |
| UWS Researchers: | Denis Burnham, Catherine Stevens, Jorg Buchholz, Takaaki Kuratate, Garth Paine and Christine Kitamura |
| Funding: |
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| Title: | Motherese by ear and eye: Infant perception of visual prosody |
| Years: | 2012-03-01 - 2015-02-28 |
| ID: | P00020110 |
| UWS Researchers: | Christine Kitamura and Jeesun Kim |
| Funding: |
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Previous Projects
| Title: | Spectral Tilt: Do infants know what's good for them? (DP0559134) |
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| Years: | 2005-01-18 - 2009-10-30 |
| ID: | P0009940 |
| UWS Researchers: | Christine Kitamura |
| Funding: |
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| Title: | Computational modelling of rhythm in music and speech |
| Years: | 2004-09-06 - 2005-09-05 |
| ID: | P0013680 |
| UWS Researchers: | Christine Kitamura |
| Funding: |
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| Title: | Infant-directed speech: Advantages for young language learners |
| Years: | 2003-01-04 - 2004-01-31 |
| ID: | P0011706 |
| UWS Researchers: | Christine Kitamura and Denis Burnham |
| Funding: |
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| Title: | Communicative Musicality - are the Origins of Music evident in Mother-Infant Interactions? |
| Years: | 2001-01-01 - 2001-12-31 |
| ID: | P0011860 |
| UWS Researchers: | Christine Kitamura and Agnes Petocz |
| Funding: |
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| Title: | Infant discrimination of spectrally weighted speech |
| Years: | 2004-02-16 - 2005-02-15 |
| ID: | P0011594 |
| UWS Researchers: | Christine Kitamura |
| Funding: |
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| Title: | Native Language Attunment by Infants with a Hearing Loss |
| Years: | 2006-11-24 - 2008-06-30 |
| ID: | P0015325 |
| UWS Researchers: | Christine Kitamura |
| Funding: |
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| Title: | The Song & Dance of Mother and Infant in Health & Depression Vocalisations and Hand Gestures in Post Natal Depression |
| Years: | 2001-01-01 - 2004-12-19 |
| ID: | P0009526 |
| UWS Researchers: | Denis Burnham, Christine Kitamura and Stephen Malloch |
| Funding: |
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| Title: | The Melody of Mother Infant Conversations: Determinations of the Acoustics Correlates of Emotion in Speech |
| Years: | 2000-01-01 - 2000-12-31 |
| ID: | P0011182 |
| UWS Researchers: | Denis Burnham and Christine Kitamura |
| Funding: |
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| Title: | Optimal Training Methods for Lexical Tone Perception by Children with Cochlear Implants: Application of Experimental Psychology Techniques |
| Years: | 2005-08-22 - 2009-08-31 |
| ID: | P0014573 |
| UWS Researchers: | Denis Burnham and Christine Kitamura |
| Funding: |
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| Title: | Music cognition in infants, children and adults |
| Years: | 2004-01-06 - 2006-06-30 |
| ID: | P0012720 |
| UWS Researchers: | Catherine Stevens and Christine Kitamura |
| Funding: |
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| Title: | How Strict is the Mother tongue? Using Dialects to Probe Early Speech Perception and Word Recognition |
| Years: | 2007-01-01 - 2011-12-31 |
| ID: | P0015136 |
| UWS Researchers: | Catherine Best and Christine Kitamura |
| Funding: |
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| Title: | Enabling Human Communication: Tough problems in human communication with bold but informed solutions drawing on sound, speech and language research capabilities |
| Years: | 2004-12-06 - 2010-12-31 |
| ID: | P0014346 |
| UWS Researchers: | Denis Burnham, Catherine Stevens, Christine Kitamura and Stephen Malloch |
| Funding: |
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| Title: | Movement and communication analysis lab and portable audience response facility |
| Years: | 2003-01-01 - 2003-12-31 |
| ID: | P0013634 |
| UWS Researchers: | Catherine Stevens, Stephen Malloch, Denis Burnham and Christine Kitamura |
| Funding: |
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| Title: | Look at me! Look at me! The evolution of infants' attention to emotional expression |
| Years: | 2005-02-01 - 2006-01-31 |
| ID: | P0014481 |
| UWS Researchers: | Christine Kitamura |
| Funding: |
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| Title: | Perception and Action in Auditory Scenes (PAAS): Neural, Behavioural, Computational and Mechanical Systems |
| Years: | 2004-01-02 - 2004-11-30 |
| ID: | P0014230 |
| UWS Researchers: | Denis Burnham, Catherine Stevens, Stephen Malloch, Christine Kitamura, George Bryan, Carolyn Mcgregor, John Gal, Gu Fang, Marija Tabain and Mark Wiggins |
| Funding: |
|
| Title: | Is seeing, hearing? Infant perception of visual prosody |
| Years: | 2010-11-03 - 2012-06-30 |
| ID: | P00019781 |
| UWS Researchers: | Christine Kitamura |
| Funding: |
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Supervision
Doctor Kitamura is available to be a principal supervisor for doctoral projects
Current Supervision
| Title: | Low Frequency Gain Compensation in Directional Hearing Aids for Mandarin Listeners |
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| Field of Research: |
