Joan A. Sereno

Professor

Department of Linguistics

Contact Info

sereno@ku.edu

785-864-2619

Blake Hall, 425
Lawrence
1541 Lilac Lane
Lawrence, KS 66045

Biography —

My area of expertise is psycholinguistics. My particular approach is to seek converging evidence from language comprehension and language production, with the ultimate goal of relating these data to specific brain processes. My current research focuses on language learning, specifically the training and learning of non-native language contrasts. I teach a variety of courses in language and mind, psychology of language, second language acquisition, and research methods.

Education —

B.S. in Psychology, Northern Illinois University, 1982, DeKalb, IL

B.A. in Philosophy, Northern Illinois University, 1982, DeKalb, IL

M.A. in Linguistics, Brown University, 1986, Providence, RI

Ph.D. in Linguistics, Brown University, 1988, Providence, RI

Research —

Psycholinguistic and neurolinguistic investigations of language structure
Second language acquisition
Speech perception
Acoustic phonetics
Spoken word recognition

Teaching —

Psycholinguistics
Language processing

Selected Publications —

Sereno, J.A., Jongman, A., Wang, Y., Tupper, P., Behne, D.M., Gu, J., and Ruan, H. (2025). Expectation of speech style improves audio-visual perception of English vowels. Speech Communication, 171 103243, 1-9. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.specom.2025.103243
Fishero, S., Sereno, J.A., and Jongman, A. (2025). The interaction of target and masker speech in competing speech perception. Brain Sciences, 15(8), 834, 1-34. https://doi.org/10.3390/brainsci15080834
Zeng, Y., Leung, K.K.W., Jongman, A., Sereno, J.A., and Wang, Y. (2023). Multi-modal cross-linguistic perception of Mandarin tones in clear speech. Frontiers in Human Neuroscience, 17, 1-13.
Fishero, S., Jongman, A., and Sereno, J.A. (2023). Perception and production of Mandarin-accented English: The effect of degree of accentedness on the Interlanguage Speech Intelligibility Benefit for Listeners (ISIB-L) and Talkers (ISIB-T). Journal of Phonetics, 99, 1-18.
Sachdeva, S., Ruan, H., Hamarneh, G., Behne, D., Jongman, A., Sereno, J.A., and Wang, Y. (2023). Plain-to-clear speech video conversion for enhanced intelligibility. International Journal of Speech Technology, 26(1), 163-184.
Garg, S., Sachdeva , S., Ruan, H., Hamarneh, G., Behne, D., Jongman, A., Sereno, J.A., and Wang, Y. (2023). Different facial cues for different speech styles in Mandarin tone articulation. Frontiers in Communication,1-19.
Garg, S., Ruan, H., Hamarneh, G., Behne, D., Jongman, A., Sereno, J.A., and Wang, Y. (2023). Mouth2audio: Intelligible audio synthesis from videos with distinctive vowel articulation. International Journal of Speech Technology, 26, 459-474.
Udayana, I.N., Aryawibawa, I.N., Sedeng, I.N., and Sereno, J.A. (2023). Tonal properties in a non-tonal language: The case of Indonesian. Heliyon, 9, e13440.
Cheng, R., Jongman, A., and Sereno, J.A. (2022). Production and perception of a merger: [l] and [n] in Fuzhou Min. Language and Speech, 66(3), 1-31.
Tupper, P., Leung, K., Wang, Y., Jongman, A., and Sereno, J.A. (2021). The contrast between clear and plain speaking style for Mandarin tones. Journal of the Acoustical Society of America, 150, 4464-4473.
Dmitrieva, O., Jongman, A., and Sereno, J.A (2020). The effect of instructed second language learning on the acoustic properties of first language speech (pdf). Languages 5, 44.
Zuraiq, W. and Sereno, J.A. (2021). Production of English lexical stress by Arabic learners. R. Wayland (Ed.), In Second Language Speech Learning: Theoretical and empirical progress, Cambridge University Press.
Wang, Y., Sereno, J.A., and Jongman, A. (2020). Multimodal perception of tone. In H-M. Liu, F-M. Tsao, and P. Li (Eds.), Speech Perception, Production, and Acquisition: Multidisciplinary Approaches in Chinese Language. Springer series on Chinese Language Learning Sciences, Ch.8.
Cho, S., Jongman, A., Wang, Y., and Sereno, J.A. (2020). Multi-modal cross-linguistic perception of fricatives in clear speech (pdf). Journal of the Acoustical Society of America, 147(4), 2609-2624.
Tupper, P., Leung, K., Wang, Y., Jongman, A., and Sereno, J.A. (2020). Characterizing the distinctive acoustic cues of Mandarin tones (pdf). Journal of the Acoustical Society of America, 147, 2570-2580.
Chien, Y-F., Yang, X, Fiorentino, R, and Sereno, J.A. (2020). The role of the surface and underlying forms when processing tonal alternations in Mandarin Chinese: A mismatch negativity study (pdf). Frontiers in Psychology: Language Sciences, 11, #646, 1-17.
Garg, S., Hamarneh, G., Jongman, A., Sereno, J.A., and Wang, Y. (2019). Computer-vision analysis reveals facial movements made during Mandarin tone production align with pitch trajectories (pdf). Speech Communication, 113, 47-62.
Li, Y., Lee, G., & Sereno, J.A. (2019). Comparing monosyllabic and disyllabic training in perceptual learning of Mandarin tone. In A. Nyvad, M. Hejná, A. Højen, A. Jespersen, & M. Hjortshøj Sarensen (Eds.), A Sound Approach to Language Matters - In Honor of Ocke-Schwen Bohn, (pp. 303-319).
Aljasser, F., Jackson, K., Vitevitch, M. S., & Sereno, J.A. (2018). The influence of phonemic inventory on elicited speech errors in Arabic speakers of English (pdf). The Mental Lexicon, Vol. 13 (1), 26 – 37.
Garg, S., Hamarneh, G., Jongman, A., Sereno, J.A., & Wang, Y. (2018). Joint gender-, tone-, vowel-classification via novel hierarchical classification for annotation of monosyllabic Mandarin word tokens. Proceedings of the IEEE International Conference on Acoustics, Speech and Signal Processing (ICASSP) (Vol. ICASSP 2018 Paper #2154), 5744-5748.
Kasisopa, B., Antonios, L. E-K, Jongman, A., Sereno, J.A., & Burnham, D. (2018). Training children to perceive non-native lexical tones: Tone language background, bilingualism, and auditory and visual information (pdf). Frontiers in Psychology: Language Sciences, 9, 1508, 1-14.
Hannah, B., Wang, Y., Jongman, A., Sereno, J. A., Cao, J., and Nie, Y. (2017). Cross-modal association between auditory and visuospatial information in Mandarin tone perception in noise by native and non-native perceivers (pdf). Frontiers in Psychology: Language Sciences.
Jongman, A., Qin, Z., Zhang, J., and Sereno, J.A. (2017). Just noticeable differences for pitch direction, height, and slope for Mandarin and English listeners (pdf). Journal of the Acoustical Society of America, 142, EL163-169.
Wang, Y., Jongman, A. and Sereno, J.A. (2017). L2 acquisition of lexical tone. In Sybesma, R., Behr, W., Gu, Y., Handel, Z., Huang, C.-T., and Myers, J. (Eds.) Encyclopedia of Chinese Language and Linguistics (ECLL). Brill Publishers.
Minai, U., Gustafson, K., Fiorentino, R., Jongman, A., and Sereno, J. (2017). Fetal rhythm-based language discrimination: A biomagnetometry study (pdf). NeuroReport, 28, 561-564.
Chien, Y-F., Zhang, J. and Sereno, J.A. (2017). What’s in a word: Observing the contribution of underlying and surface representations (pdf). Language and Speech.
Sereno, J.A. (2017). How category learning occurs in adults and children. In A. Lahiri and S. Kotzor (Eds.), The Speech Processing Lexicon: Neurocognitive and behavioural approaches. Berlin: Mouton De Gruyter.
Leung, K., Jongman, A., Sereno, J.A., and Wang, Y. (2016). Acoustic characteristics of clearly spoken English tense and lax vowels (pdf). Journal of the Acoustical Society of America, 140, 45-58. DOI:10.1017/S1366728916000559
Yakup, M. and Sereno, J.A. (2016). Acoustic correlates of lexical stress in Uyghur (pdf). Journal of the International Phonetics Association, 46(1), 61-77. DOI:10.1017/S0025100315000183
Sereno, J.A., Lammers, L., and Jongman, A. (2016). The relative contribution of segments and intonation to the perception of foreign-accented speech (pdf). Applied Psycholinguistics, 37, 303-322. DOI:10.1017/S0142716414000575
Wang, Y., Jongman, A. and Sereno, J.A. (2016). L2 acquisition of lexical tone. In Sybesma, R., Behr, W., Gu, Y., Handel, Z., Huang, C.-T., and Myers, J. (Eds.) Encyclopedia of Chinese Language and Linguistics (ECLL). ISBN 978 90 04 18643 9
Chien, Y-F., Sereno, J.A., and Zhang, J. (2016). Priming the representation of Mandarin tone 3 sandhi words (pdf). Language, Cognition and Neuroscience, 31(2), 179-189. DOI:10.1080/23273798.2015.1064976
Tang, L., Hannah, B., Jongman, A., Sereno, J.A., Wang, Y., & Hamarneh, G. (2015). Examining visible articulatory features in clear and plain speech (pdf). Speech Communication, 75, 1-13. DOI:10.1016/j.specom.2015.09.008
Yakup, M., Abliz, W., Sereno, J.A., and Perea, M. (2015). Extending models of visual-word recognition to semi-cursive scripts: Evidence from masked priming in Uyghur (pdf). Journal of Experimental Psychology: Human Perception and Performance. 41(6), 1553-1562. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.1037/xhp0000143
Sereno, J.A. and Lee, H. (2015). The contribution of segmental and tonal information in Mandarin spoken word processing (pdf). Language and Speech, 58(2), 131-151. DOI: 10.1177/0023830914522956
Herd, W., Sereno, J.A., and Jongman, A. (2015). Cross-modal priming differences between native and nonnative Spanish speakers (pdf). Studies in Hispanic and Lusophone Linguistics, 8(1), 135-155. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.1515/shll-2015-0005
Leung, K., Jongman, A., Wang, Y., & Sereno, J. (2015). Acoustic characteristic of clearly spoken English tense and lax vowels. In The Scottish Consortium for ICPhS 2015 (Ed.), Proceedings of the 18th International Congress of Phonetic Sciences, The University of Glasgow. ISBN 978-0-85261-941-4. Paper number 276.
Sereno, J., Lee, H., & Jongman, A. (2015). Effects of speaking rate and context on the production of Mandarin tone. In The Scottish Consortium for ICPhS 2015 (Ed.), Proceedings of the 18th International Congress of Phonetic Sciences, The University of Glasgow. ISBN 978-0-85261-941-4. Paper number 680.
Tang, L., Hannah, B., Jongman, A., Sereno, J., Wang, Y., & Hamarneh, G. (2015). Examining visible articulatory features in clear and conversational speech. In The Scottish Consortium for ICPhS 2015 (Ed.), Proceedings of the 18th International Congress of Phonetic Sciences, The University of Glasgow. ISBN 978-0-85261-941-4. Paper number 438.
Yakup, M., Abliz, W., Sereno, J.A., and Perea, M. (2014). How is letter position coding attained in scripts with position-dependent allography? (pdf) Psychonomic Bulletin & Review, 21(6), 1600-1606. DOI: 10.3758/s13423-014-0621-6
Vitevitch, M., Sereno, J.A., Jongman, A. and Goldstein, R. (2013). Speaker sex influences the processing of grammatical gender (pdf). PLOS ONE: November 13, 2013. DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0079701
Herd, W., Jongman, A., and Sereno, J.A. (2013). Perceptual and production training of intervocalic /d, ɾ, r/ in American English learners of Spanish (pdf). Journal of the Acoustical Society of America, 133, 4247-4255.
Jongman, A., Herd, W., Al-Masri, M., Sereno, J.A., and Combest, S. (2011). Acoustics and perception of emphasis in Urban Jordanian Arabic (pdf). Journal of Phonetics, 39, 85-95.
Dmitrieva, O., Sereno, J.A., and Jongman, A. (2010). Phonological neutralization by native and non-native speakers: The case of Russian final devoicing. (pdf) Journal of Phonetics, 38, 483-492.
Ferguson, S.H., Jongman, A., and Sereno, J.A. (2010). Intelligibility of foreign-accented speech for older adults with and without hearing loss (pdf). Journal of the American Academy of Audiology, 21, 153-162.
Herd, W., Jongman, A. and Sereno, J.A. (2010). An acoustic and perceptual analysis of /t/ and /d/ flaps in American English (pdf). Journal of Phonetics, 38, 504-516.
Lai, Y., Huff, C., Sereno, J., & Jongman, A. (2009). The raising effect of aspirated prevocalic consonants on F0 in Taiwanese. In J. Brooke, G. Coppola, E. Görgülü, M. Mameni, E. Mileva, S. Morton, & A. Rimrott (Eds.), Proceedings of the 2nd International Conference on East Asian Linguistics. Simon Fraser University Working Papers in Linguistics.
Vitevitch, M., Stamer, M., and Sereno, J.A. (2008). Word length and lexical competition: Longer is the same as shorter (pdf). Language and Speech, 51(4), 361-383.
Wade, T. Jongman, A. and Sereno, J.A. (2007). Effects of acoustic variability in the perceptual learning of non-native-accented speech sounds (pdf). Phonetica, 64, 122-144.
Zuraiq, W. and Sereno, J.A. (2007). English lexical stress cues in native English and non-native Arabic speakers (pdf). In J. Trouvain and B. Barry (Eds.) Proceedings of the 16th International Congress of Phonetic Sciences (ICPhS XVI), 829-832.
Sereno, J.A. and Wang, Y. (2007). Behavioral and cortical effects of learning a second language: The acquisition of tone (pdf). In O. Bohn. and M. Munro (Eds.), Language Experience in Second Language Speech Learning, New York: John Benjamins Publishing Company, 239-258.
Smits, R., Sereno, J.A., and Jongman, A. (2006). Categorization of sounds (pdf). Journal of Experimental Psychology: Human Perception and Performance, 32, 733-754.
Wang, Y., Jongman, A., and Sereno, J.A. (2006). Second language acquisition and processing of Mandarin tone (pdf). In E. Bates, L. Tan, and O. Tzeng (Eds.), Handbook of East Asian Psycholinguistics, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 250-257.
Jongman, A., Wang, Y., Moore, C. and Sereno, J.A. (2006). Perception and production of Mandarin tones (pdf). In E. Bates, L. Tan, and O. Tzeng (Eds.), Handbook of East Asian Psycholinguistics, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 209-217.
Atchley, R., Rice, M., Betz, S., Kwasny, K., Sereno, J.A., and Jongman, A. (2006). A comparison of semantic and syntactic Event Related Potentials generated by children and adults (pdf). Brain and Language, 99(3), 236-246.
Warner, N., Good, E., Jongman, A., and Sereno, J.A. (2006). Orthographic versus morphological incomplete neutralization effects (pdf). Journal of Phonetics, 34, 285-293.
McQueen, J. and Sereno, J.A. (2005). Cleaving automatic processes from strategic biases in phonological priming (pdf). Memory & Cognition, 33, 1185-1209.
Warner, N., Jongman, A., Sereno, J.A., and Kemps, R. (2004). Incomplete neutralization and other sub-phonemic durational differences in production and perception of Dutch (pdf). Journal of Phonetics, 32, 251-276.
Wang, Y., Behne, D., Jongman, A., and Sereno, J.A. (2004). The role of linguistic experience in the hemispheric processing of lexical tone (pdf). Applied Psycholinguistics, 26, 449-466.
Wang, Y., Jongman, A., and Sereno, J.A. (2003). Acoustic and perceptual evaluation of Mandarin tone productions before and after training (pdf). Journal of the Acoustical Society of America, 113, 1033-1043.
Jongman, A., Wade, T., and Sereno, J.A. (2003). On improving the perception of foreign-accented speech. In M.J. Sole, D. Recasens, and J. Romero (Eds.) Proceedings of the 15th International Congress of Phonetic Sciences (ICPhS XV), 1561-1564.
Wang, Y., Sereno, J.A., Jongman, A., and Hirsch, J. (2003). fMRI evidence for cortical modification during learning of Mandarin lexical tone (pdf). Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience, 15, 1019-1027.
Wade, T., Eakin, D., Webb, R., Agah, A., Brown, F., Jongman, A., Gauch, J., Schreiber, T. and Sereno, J.A. (2002). Modeling recognition of speech sounds with Minerva2. Proceedings of the 7th International Conference on Spoken Language Processing, 2002, 1653-1656.
Wang, Y., Jongman, A. and Sereno, J.A. (2001). Dichotic perception of linguistic tones by Mandarin and American listeners (pdf). Brain and Language, 78, 332-348.
Sereno, J.A., Smits, R., and Jongman, A. (2001). Auditory category learning. In Smits, R., Kingston, J., and Nearey, T. (Eds.), Proceedings of the Workshop on Speech Recognition as Pattern Classification (SPRAAC), 43-48.
Doeleman, T., Sereno, J.A., Jongman, A. and Sereno, S.C. (2000). Features and feedback. Behavioral and Brain Sciences, 23(3), 328-329.
Wang, Y., Sereno, J.A., Jongman, A., and Hirsch, J. (2000). Cortical reorganization associated with the acquisition of Mandarin tones by American learners: An fMRI study. Proceedings of the 6th International Conference on Spoken Language Processing, II, 511-514.
Jongman, A., Wang, Y., and Sereno, J.A. (2000). Acoustic and perceptual properties of English fricatives. Proceedings of the 6th International Conference on Spoken Language Processing, I, 536-539.
Sereno, J.A. and Quene, H. (2000). Facilitation and inhibition using a segmental phonetic priming paradigm. Proceedings of the Spoken Word Access Processes (SWAP) Conference, 171-174.
Sereno, J.A., Zwitserlood, P., and Jongman, A. (1999). Entries and operations: The great divide and the pitfalls of form frequency. Behavioral and Brain Sciences, 22(6), 1039.
Sereno, J.A. (1999). Hemispheric differences in grammatical class (pdf). Brain and Language, 70, 13-28. PDF
Wang, Y., Spence, M., Jongman, A., and Sereno, J.A. (1999). Training American listeners to perceive Mandarin tones. Journal of the Acoustical Society of America, 106, 3649-3658.
Wang, Y, Jongman, A., and Sereno, J.A. (1998). Training American listeners to perceive Mandarin tones (pdf). In N. Adisasmito-Smith, W. Ham, and L. Lavoie (eds.), Working Papers of the Cornell Phonetics Laboratory, 12, 243-254.
Sereno, J.A. (1998). Hemispheric differences in grammatical class: A hemifield investigation. In N. Adisasmito-Smith, W. Ham, and L. Lavoie (eds.), Working Papers of the Cornell Phonetics Laboratory, 12, 233-242.
Jongman, A., Sereno, J.A., Wayland, R., and Wong, S. (1998). Acoustic properties of English fricatives. In P. Kuhl and L. Crum (eds.), Joint Proceedings of the 16th International Congress on Acoustics and the 135th Meeting of the Acoustical Society of America, 2935-2936.
Wang, Y, Jongman, A., and Sereno, J.A. (1998). Training American listeners to perceive Mandarin tones A first report. In P. Kuhl and L. Crum (eds.), Joint Proceedings of the 16th International Congress on Acoustics and the 135th Meeting of the Acoustical Society of America, 2979-2980.
Sereno, J.A. and Jongman, A. (1997). Processing of English inflectional morphology (pdf). Memory & Cognition, 25, 425-437
Burton, M., Jongman, A. and Sereno, J.A. (1996). Phonological and orthographic priming effects in auditory and visual word recognition, In W. Ham and L. Lavoie (Eds.), Working Papers of the Cornell Phonetics Laboratory, 11, 17-41.
Sereno, J.A. and Jongman, A. (1996). Processing of English inflectional morphology. In W. Ham and L. Lavoie (Eds.), Working Papers of the Cornell Phonetics Laboratory, 11, 317-346.
Jongman, A. and Sereno, J.A. (1995). Acoustic properties of non-sibilant fricatives. Proceedings of the XIIIth International Congress of Phonetic Sciences, Vol. 4, 432-435.
Sereno, J.A. and Jongman, A. (1995). Acoustic correlates of grammatical class (pdf). Language and Speech, 38, 57-76. PDF
Sereno, J.A. (1994). Phonosyntactics. In L. Hinton, J. Nichols, and J. Ohala (Eds.), Sound Symbolism (pdf). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 263-275.
Sereno, J.A. and Jongman, A. (1993). Acoustic correlates of form class. A. Bradlow and C. Moore (Eds.), Working Papers of the Cornell Phonetics Laboratory, 8, 119-140.
Sereno, J.A. and Jongman, A. (1992). Phonetic priming effects in auditory word recognition. Working Papers of the Cornell Phonetics Laboratory, 7, 151-177.
Jongman, A., Sereno, J.A., Raaijmakers, M. and Lahiri, A. (1992). The phonological representation of [voice] in speech perception (pdf). Language and Speech, 35, 137-152.
Sereno, J.A. (1991). Graphemic, associative, and syntactic priming effects at a brief stimulus onset asynchrony in lexical decision and naming (pdf). Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory, and Cognition, 17(3), 459-477.
Jongman, A. and Sereno, J.A. (1991). On vowel quantity and post-vocalic consonant duration in Dutch. Proceedings of the XIIth International Congress of Phonetic Sciences, Vol. 2, 294-297.
Sereno, J.A. (1990). Phonology and the brain: Review of Phonological Processes and Brain Mechanisms (Edited by Harry Whitaker). Contemporary Psychology, 35(5), 475-476.
Sereno, J.A. and Jongman, A. (1990). Phonological and form class relations in the lexicon (pdf). Journal of Psycholinguistic Research, 19(6), 387-404.
Lahiri, A., Jongman, A. and Sereno, J.A. (1990). The pronominal clitic [dәr] in Dutch: A theoretical and experimental approach (pdf). In A. Jongman and A. Lahiri (Eds.), Yearbook of Morphology, 3, 115-127.
Jongman, A., Fourakis, M. and Sereno, J.A. (1989). The acoustic vowel space in modern Greek and German (pdf). Language and Speech, 32(3), 221-248.
Sereno, J.A., Baum, S.R., Marean, G.C. and Lieberman, P. (1987). Acoustic analyses and perceptual data on anticipatory labial coarticulation in adults and children (pdf). Journal of the Acoustical Society of America, 81, 512-519.
Sereno, J.A. and Lieberman, P. (1987). Developmental aspects of lingual coarticulation (pdf). Journal of Phonetics, 15, 247-257.

Selected Presentations —

Research funding expectations, linguistic expectations, and a locked room methodology. Invited presentation at Pertinacity: Synchronic processing and diachrony, Ettington Park, UK, January 11-15, 2026.

Psycholinguistics and Phonological Cognisance. Invited presentation at the PAAL Celebration, University of Oxford, March 20, 2026.

Timing the message: Reweighting temporal and spectral cues in native-nonnative conversational speech adaptation. Presentation at Speech Prosody 2026, Philadelphia, PA, May 2026 (H. Zhang, H. Ruan, D. Behne, A. Jongman, J.A. Sereno, P. Tupper, and Y. Wang).

I don’t have grudges, I have a wish: Cantonese Suprasegmental Adaptation in Conversations. Presentation at Speech Prosody 2026, Philadelphia, PA, May 2026 (I. Fong, H. Ruan, D. Behne, J.A. Sereno, P. Tupper, and Y. Wang).

Native-nonnative speech adaptations in conversation: Effects of L1 background. Presented at New Sounds 2025 (11th International Symposium on the Acquisition of Second Language Speech), Toronto, Canada, April 23-25, 2025 (H. Zhang, X. Deng, P. Tupper, J.A. Sereno, A. Jongman, D. M. Behne, and Y. Wang).

Neural responses to human versus AI interlocutors: an MEG study. 188th Meeting of the Acoustical Society of America (ASA), New Orleans, LA, May 2025 (with M. Clarke, J. Gu, M. Durana, H. Zhang, J.A. Sereno, and Y. Wang).

I mean “ship” not “sheep”: Intelligibility-based phonetic adaptation in native-nonnative conversation. 189thMeeting of the Acoustical Society of America (ASA) and Acoustical Society of Japan (ASJ), Honolulu, HI, December 2025 (H. Zhang, H. Ruan, P. Tupper, A. Jongman, J.A. Sereno, D. Behne , and Y. Wang).

A new experimental design to study speech adaptations in spontaneous human-computer conversations. Presentation at the 186th Meeting of the Acoustical Society of America (ASA), Ottawa, Canada, May 2024 (J. Gu, I. Fong, S. To, F. Wang, D.M. Behne, A. Jongman, J.A. Sereno, and Y. Wang).

Real-time speech adaptations in conversations between human interlocutor and AI confederate. Presentation at the 186th Meeting of the Acoustical Society of America (ASA), Ottawa, Canada, May 2024 (F. Wang, J. Gu, M. Durana, C. Mabohang, D. M. Behne, A. Jongman, J.A. Sereno, and Y. Wang).

Speech adaptation in conversation: Effects of segment cue-weighting strategy for non-native speakers. Presentation at the 186th Meeting of the Acoustical Society of America (ASA), Ottawa, Canada, May 2024. (H. Zhang, D. Deng, M. Glover, D. M. Behne, A. Jongman, J.A. Sereno, and Y. Wang).

Phonetic adaptation in conversation: The case of Cantonese tone merging. Presentation at the 186th Meeting of the Acoustical Society of America (ASA), Ottawa, Canada, May 2024 (I. Fong, K. Chan, T. Johnson-Dhillon, J. Trasolini, F. Wang, D. M. Behne, A. Jongman, J.A. Sereno, and Y. Wang).

Audio-visual clear speech: articulation, acoustics and perception of segments and tones. Invited talk in Special Session “Clear Speech(es) Across People, Places, and Time”. 184th Meeting of the Acoustical Society of America (ASA), Chicago, IL, May 2023 (Y. Wang, J. A. Sereno, and A. Jongman).

Speech-in-speech perception: The role of F0, rate, and rhythm. 184th Meeting of the Acoustical Society of America (ASA), Chicago, IL, May 2023 (S. Fishero, A. Jongman, and J. A. Sereno).

The role of proficiency in the interlanguage speech intelligibility benefit (ISIB). 182nd Meeting of the Acoustical Society of America (ASA), Denver, CO, May 2022 (S. Fishero, A. Jongman and J. A. Sereno).

Cues, cues, and more cues. Invited talk. Workshop “Mathematical modeling and machine learning in Phonetics”. Banff International Research Station (BIRS). November 2022.

An Acoustic Study of the Contrast Between Clear and Plain Speaking Style for Mandarin. Acoustics Virtually Everywhere, Acoustical Society of America (ASA), Virtual, December 2020 (P. Tupper, K. Leung, Y. Wang, A. Jongman and J. A. Sereno).

Different facial cues for different speech styles in Mandarin tone articulation. Acoustics Virtually Everywhere, Acoustical Society of America (ASA), Virtual, December 2020 (S. Garg, L. Tang, G. Hamarneh, A. Jongman, J.A. Sereno and Y. Wang).

The perception and production of Mandarin-accented English: the role of degree of accentedness in the interlanguage speech intelligibility benefit for talkers and the interlanguage speech intelligibility benefit for listeners.Acoustics Virtually Everywhere, Acoustical Society of America (ASA), Virtual, December 2020 (S. Fishero, J.A. Sereno, and A. Jongman).

Processing Mandarin Tone: What can it tell us? Invited Webinar FIB Research Talk for Fakultas Ilmu Budaya (FReTalk) for Faculty of Humanities, Udayana University, Bali, Indonesia. October 2020.

MMN may not reflect lexical tone as phonemic categories: The involvement of multiple processing mechanisms. Presented at the 12th annual meeting of the Society for the Neurobiology of Language (SNL), October 2020 (Y. Zeng, R. Fiorentino, A. Jongman, J. Zhang, J.A. Sereno).

Sereno, J. A. (2017, February). Vibrations to representations: Issues in speech processing. Invited talk at the 42nd Annual Interdisciplinary Conference (AIC), Sereno Symposium, Breckenridge, Colorado.

Chien, Y.-F., Fiorentino, R., Yang, X., & Sereno, J. A. (2016, December). Surface phonetic or underlying phonological representations: A mismatch negativity study of Mandarin tone assimilation. 168th Meeting of the Acoustical Society of America (ASA) and the Acoustic Society of Japan (5th Joint Meeting), Honolulu, Hawaii.

Hannah, B., Wang, Y., Jongman, A., & Sereno, J. A. (2016, December). Cross-modal association between auditory and visual-spatial information in Mandarin tone perception. 168th Meeting of the Acoustical Society of America (ASA) and the Acoustic Society of Japan (5th Joint Meeting), Honolulu, Hawaii.

Jongman, A., Qin, Z., Zhang, J., & Sereno, J. A. (2016, December). Just noticeable differences for pitch height and pitch contour for Chinese and American listeners. 168th Meeting of the Acoustical Society of America (ASA) and the Acoustic Society of Japan (5th Joint Meeting), Honolulu, Hawaii.

Leung, K., Wang, Y., Redmon, C., Jongman, A., & Sereno, J. A. (2016, December). Cross-linguistic perception of clearly spoken English tense and lax vowels based on auditory, visual, and auditory-visual information. 168th Meeting of the Acoustical Society of America (ASA) and the Acoustic Society of Japan (5th Joint Meeting), Honolulu, Hawaii.

Chien, Y.-F., Sereno, J. A., & Zhang, J. (2016, May). Priming the Representation of Taiwanese Tone Sandhi Words. Paper to be presented at the Fifth International Symposium on the Tonal Aspects of Languages (TAL 2016), Buffalo, New York.

Sereno, J. A. (2016, April). Observing underlying and surface representations in tone sandhi. Invited talk, University of Oxford, Workshop on (Morpho)-phonological Processing, Oxford, United Kingdom.

Minai, U., Gustafson, K., Fiorentino, R., Jongman, A., & Sereno, J. A. (2015, October). Assessing pre-natal rhythm-based discrimination of language by fetal magnetocardiography (fMCG). Presented at the 7th Annual Meeting of the Society for the Neurobiology of Language (SNL), Chicago, Illinois.

Leung, K., Jongman, A., Wang, Y., & Sereno, J. A. (2015, August). Acoustic characteristics of clearly spoken English tense and lax vowels. Presented at the 18th International Congress of Phonetic Sciences (ICPhS), Glasgow, United Kingdom.

Sereno, J. A., Lee, H., & Jongman, A. (2015, August). Effects of speaking rate and context on the production of Mandarin tone. Presented at the 18th International Congress of Phonetic Sciences (ICPhS), Glasgow, United Kingdom.

Tang, L., Hannah, B., Jongman, A., Sereno, J. A., Wang, Y., & Hamarneh, G. (2015, August). Examining visible articulatory features in clear and conversational speech. Presented at the 18th International Congress of Phonetic Sciences (ICPhS), Glasgow, United Kingdom.

Chien, Y.-F., & Sereno, J. (2014, October). The representation of Tone 3 sandhi words in Mandarin: A psycholinguistic study. Presented at the 168th Meeting of the Acoustical Society of America (ASA), Indianapolis, Indiana. Proceedings.

Nakata, K., & Sereno, J. (2014, October). Perception of sound symbolism in mimetic stimuli: The voicing contrast in Japanese and English. Presented at the 168th Meeting of the Acoustical Society of America (ASA), Indianapolis, Indiana.

Sereno, J. (2013, September). Perception of foreign-accented speech. Presented at the 5th annual Pronunciation in Second Language Learning and Teaching (PSLLT) Conference,, Ames, IA.

Herd, W., Fiorentino, R., & Sereno, J. A. (2012, October). High variability training increases mismatch negativity responses to L2 contrasts. Presented at the 164th Meeting of the Acoustical Society of America (ASA), Kansas City, MO.

Sereno, J. A., & Lee, H. (2012, October). Lexical tone in Mandarin spoken word processing. Presented at the 164th Meeting of the Acoustical Society of America (ASA), Kansas City, MO.

Herd, W., Fiorentino, R., Jongman, A., & Sereno, J. A. (2012, March). Changes in MMN responses in English learners of Spanish as a result of training. Presented at the 6th Conference on Mismatch Negativity (MMN) and its Clinical and Scientific Applications, New York, NY.

Awards & Honors —

Fellow, Association for Psychological Science (APS), 2022

Fellow, Acoustical Society of America (ASA), American Institute of Physics, 2020

Fellow, American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS), 2020

Fellow, Psychonomic Society, 2017Higher Learning Commission (HLC) Re-accreditation Self Study Committee, University of Kansas (2013 - 2015)

Chancellors Club Teaching Professor, University of Kansas, 2017-2022

Faculty Fellow for Faculty Development, Mary Lee Hummert, KU Provost’s Office (2013 - 2014)

Senior Administrative Fellow, Provost Office, University of Kansas (2013 - 2014)

Visiting Professor MARCS Institute, University of Western Sydney, Australia (Spring 2013)

Gene A. Budig Teaching Professor Award in Social and Behavioral Sciences (2011 - 2012)

Outstanding College Alumni Award, College of Liberal Arts and Sciences, Northern Illinois University (2009)

William T. Kemper Foundation Fellowship for Teaching Excellence (2006)

Visiting Scientist, University of Konstanz, Konstanz, Germany (Summer 2006)

Visiting Scientist, University of Konstanz, Konstanz, Germany (Summer 2005)

Undergraduate Teacher Appreciation Award, Center for Teaching Excellence (2002)

Alexander von Humboldt Research Fellowship, Alexander von Humboldt Foundation (1999 - 2002)

Invited Scientist, Max Planck Institute for Psycholinguistics (MPI) (Summer 2002)

Invited Scientist, Max Planck Institute for Psycholinguistics (MPI) (Summer 2001)

PEW Fellowship Program in Undergraduate Science Education, PEW Fellowship (1995)

German Science Foundation Fellowship (Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft), German Science Foundation (1990)

Brown University Tuition Scholarship, Brown University (1985 - 1987)

John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation Research Fellowship (1985 - 1987)

National Science Fellowship (NSF) Graduate Fellowship (1982 - 1985)

Northern Illinois University Academic Achievement Award, Northern Illinois University (1977 - 1981)

Northern Illinois University Alumni Association Scholarship (full tuition), Northern Illinois University (1977 - 1978)

Grants & Other Funded Activity —

2023-2028 Discovery Grant, Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council (NSERC), (P.I. Yue Wang; Collaborator: J. Sereno) $195,000 Adaptations in conversation: engaging voices, faces, brains and machines.

2019-2024 Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada (SSHRC), $235,000, (P.I.: Y. Wang; Collaborator: J. Sereno) Hyperarticulation in auditory-visual speech communication.

2020-2021 Udayana Research Institute, Bali, Indonesia, $25,000 (300,000,000 IDR), (Research Team: Udayana (P.I.), Aryawibwa, Sedeng, Sereno) Tonal properties in a non-tonal language: The case of Indonesian.

2019-2020 Big Data Initiative, Next Big Question (NBQ), Simon Fraser University, $25,000 (Collaborator: J. Sereno; P.I.: Y. Wang). Automated lip-reading: Extracting speech from video of a talking face.

2017-2022 Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC), $125,000 (Collaborator: J. Sereno; P.I.: Y. Wang). Communicating pitch in clear speech: Articulation, acoustics, intelligibility, neuro-processing, and computational modeling.

2018-2020 Center for Teaching Excellence, University of Kansas, $5,000. Benchmarks for Teaching Effectiveness – Linguistics

2017-2018 Center for Teaching Excellence, University of Kansas, $10,000. Curriculum Innovation Grant, Transforming the Linguistics curriculum.

Sereno, J. (Co-Principal), Jongman, A. (Co-Principal) & Zhang, J. (Co-Principal). The role of variability in speech categorization. University of Kansas $5,168 (2015 - 2016).

Sereno, J. A. (Principal) & Martinez-Garcia, M. (Principal). Graduate Research Consultant (GRC) award for Linguistics 110 (Language and Mind). Center for Undergraduate Research, $500 (Fall 2015).

Sereno, J. A. (Co-Principal) & Jongman, A. (Co-Principal). Evaluating student learning and program curriculum through Capstone Courses (Linguistics 420 and Linguistics 421). Center for Teaching Excellence (CTE) $5,000 (2014 - 2015).

Sereno, J. A. (Principal) & Martinez-Garcia, M. (Principal). Graduate Research Consultant (GRC) award for Linguistics 435 (Psycholinguistics). Center for Undergraduate Research, $500 (Spring 2015).

Sereno, J. A. (Co-Principal), Minai, U. (Co-Principal), Fiorentino, R. (Co-Principal) & Jongman, A. (Co-Principal). Pre-birth assessment of language ability: A fetal MEG study. Frontiers Pilot and Collaborative Studies Funding Program (NIH) $30,000 (2013 - 2014).

Sereno, J. A. (Principal). The contribution of speaking rate, talker, and coarticulation to lexical tone processing: Effects of language background and training. National Science Foundation, Social, Behavioral & Economic Sciences, Behavioral and Cognitive Sciences $284,641 (2009 - 2012).

Sereno, J. A. The contribution of speaking rate and talker to lexical tone processing. University of Kansas General Research Fund $9,731 (2009 - 2010).

Jongman, A. (Principal), & Sereno, J. A. Acoustic and perceptual correlates of emphasis in Arabic. 0518969, National Science Foundation, Faculty Associate $230,000 (2005 - 2007).

Sereno, J. A. Native language influence on native and non-native perception. University of Kansas General Research Fund $1,603 (2006 - 2007).

Sereno, J. A. (Principal). William T. Kemper Foundation Fellowship for Teaching Excellence. William T. Kemper Foundation $5,000 (2006). Teaching and Advising at the Freshman-Sophomore Level

Sereno, J. A. Training with Linguistic Contrasts. University of Kansas General Research Fund $8,669 (2002 - 2003).

Rice (Co-Principal), Sereno, J. A. (Co-Principal), Jongman (Co-Principal), & Atchley (Co-Principal). Evaluation of the perceptual and neurological processing abilities of children with grammatical limitations. KU Research Development Fund $47,400 (1999 - 2000).

Agah (Co-Principal), Brown (Co-Principal), Gauch (Co-Principal), Jongman (Co-Principal), Schreiber (Co-Principal), Sereno, J. A. (Co-Principal), & Speer (Co-Principal). Cognitive Robotics Project. KU Research Development Fund $61,548 (1999 - 2000).

Sereno, J. A. (Principal). Processing of German Inflectional Morphology. Alexander von Humboldt Research Fellowship $24,500 (1999 - 2002).

Sereno, J. A. (Principal). Acquiring a Second Language: Perception of Mandarin Tone. KU New Faculty General Research Fund Program $9,994 (2000).

Sereno, J. A. (Principal). Behavioral Investigations of Nouns and Verbs. National Science Foundation NSF POWRE Award $49,981 (1998 - 1999).

Sereno, J. A. (Principal). Phonetic Priming. Nederlandse Organisatie voor Wetenschappelijk Onderzoek (Dutch NSF) $15,000 (1998 - 1999).

Sereno, J. A. (Principal). Lexical Organization of Inflectional Structure. PEW Fellowship Program in Undergraduate Science Education $7,000 (1995).

Sereno, J. A. (Principal). The Processing of Inflectional Structure: Nouns and Verbs in English. President's Council of Cornell Women Research Grant $5,000 (1993 - 1994).

Sereno, J. A. (Principal). German Science Foundation Fellowship. Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (1990).

Sereno, J. A. (Principal). Graduate Fellowship. John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation Research Fellowship (1985 - 1987).

Sereno, J. A. (Principal). University Scholarship. Brown University Scholarship (1985 - 1987).

Sereno, J. A. (Principal). National Science Foundation (NSF) Graduate Fellowship. National Science Foundation (1982 - 1985).

Sereno, J. A. (Principal). Academic Achievement Award, Northern Illinois University. Northern Illinois University (1977 - 1981).

Sereno, J. A. (Principal). Northern Illinois University Alumni Association Scholarship (full tuition). Northern Illinois University (1977 - 1978).

Memberships —

2009-present Professor, Linguistics Department, University of Kansas

2022-2026        Division Director, Behavioral and Cognitive Sciences (BCS), Social, Behavioral, and Economic Sciences (SBE) Directorate, U.S. National Science Foundation (NSF)
2016-present   Department Chair, Linguistics Department, University of Kansas
2004-2016   Associate Department Chair, Linguistics Department, University of Kansas
2002-2009   Associate Professor, Linguistics Department, University of Kansas
2000-2002   Assistant Professor, Linguistics Department, University of Kansas
1999-2000   Assistant Professor (Linguistics Department) and Research Associate (Ermal Garinger Academic Resource Center), KU.
1997-1999   Visiting Assistant Professor, Dept. of Modern Languages, Cornell University
1996-1997   Visiting Assistant Professor and Director of Noyes Lodge Language Center, Dept. Modern Languages, Cornell University
1995-1996   Acting Assistant Professor, Department of Modern Languages, Cornell University
1992-1995   Acting Assistant Professor, Joint Appointment in Psychology and Modern Languages & Linguistics, Cornell University
1991-1992   Visiting Fellow, Psychology Department and Department of Modern Languages and Linguistics, Cornell University.
1990-1991   National Institutes of Health (NIH) Postdoctoral Research, Linguistics, UCLA.
1988-1991   Scientific Research Staff, Max Planck Institute for Psycholinguistics.
1987-1988   Adjunct Professor of Linguistics, Washington University in St. Louis.
1987-1988   Postdoctoral Research Scientist, Central Institute for the Deaf, St. Louis.