Lisa Sanders

Lisa Sanders is a Professor in the Department of Psychological and Brain Sciences at the University of Massachusetts Amherst. She leads the Neurocognition and Perception Laboratory and is affiliated with the Neuroscience & Behavior Graduate Program, Center for Research on Families, Healthy Development Initiative, Initiative in Cognitive Science, and the Institute for Applied Life Sciences.

• PhD, 2001, University of Oregon

Her research lies at the intersection of cognitive neuroscience and developmental science, focusing on auditory perception, speech processing, and selective attention across the lifespan. She investigates how listeners process speech in noise, how prosody and rhythm influence perception, and the neural mechanisms underlying attentional allocation in both speech and music. Her work employs behavioral, EEG, and ERP methodologies with participants ranging from toddlers to older adults.

The most recent publications highlight a strong trend in temporal attention, speech segmentation, and the influence of prosody and musical structure on perception. Her research increasingly explores cross-modal and developmental aspects of auditory cognition, using artificial languages and controlled stimuli to isolate perceptual mechanisms. Collaborative work extends into emotional decision-making and visual attention.

Lisa Sanders has not been mentioned as receiving any scientific awards in the provided text.

She advises graduate students through the Neuroscience & Behavior program and leads a multidisciplinary research team. Her lab conducts externally funded research projects such as LiveNoise, SpeechRate, PrecedNoise, and PhonoLearn, often in collaboration with researchers across departments and institutions. While specific grants are not listed, her sustained research output and lab operations imply active grant support.

She directs the Neurocognition and Perception Laboratory at Tobin Hall, where her team investigates neural and cognitive mechanisms of perception using electrophysiological and behavioral methods. The lab fosters collaboration across psychology, linguistics, neuroscience, and communication disorders.