Duane Watson facts for kids

Duane Girard Watson, born in 1976, is an American scientist. He is a neuroscientist, which means he studies the brain. He is also a professor of psychology and human development at Vanderbilt University.

Professor Watson holds a special position called the Frank W. Mayborn Chair in Cognitive Science. He also leads the Communication and Language Laboratory at Vanderbilt University.

Early Life and Learning

Where Did Duane Watson Grow Up?

Duane Watson grew up in Las Vegas. He went to Princeton University to study psychology. At first, he wanted to become a doctor.

How Did He Start Studying Language?

A class about linguistics (the study of language) changed his mind. He became very interested in how people use and understand language. He finished his studies at Princeton in 1998.

After Princeton, he moved to Cambridge, Massachusetts. There, he joined a research lab at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). In 2002, he earned his advanced degree, called a doctoral degree. His research focused on how we understand spoken language. Specifically, he looked at "intonational phrasing." This means how different parts of what we say have their own sound patterns.

Later, he worked as a postdoctoral researcher at the University of Rochester. He continued to learn more about language and the brain.

Research and Career

Studying How We Communicate

In 2005, Duane Watson joined the University of Illinois at Urbana–Champaign. There, he started his own lab. His lab studies the brain processes behind language and how we communicate without words.

He has researched how things like gestures and how we emphasize words affect communication. He also looks at how "disfluencies" (like "um" or "uh") change what listeners understand.

The "Alice in Wonderland" Experiment

Professor Watson designed an interesting experiment. He wanted to see how "ums" and "uhs" affect memory. Participants listened to Lewis Carroll's famous story, Alice's Adventures in Wonderland.

• Half of the listeners heard the original story.
• The other half heard a version with "disfluencies" (like "ums" and "uhs") added in.

After listening, everyone was asked to retell the chapters. Watson found that people who heard the story with "disfluencies" remembered it better!

He also checked if this was just because the "ums" and "uhs" gave people more time to think. He compared them to coughs, which also add time. He found that "disfluencies" did more than just add time. They actually helped people understand what they were hearing. These sounds often help to structure a story, appearing at important parts of the plot.

Leading the Communication and Language Lab

In 2016, Professor Watson moved to Vanderbilt University. There, he leads the Communication and Language Laboratory (CaLL).

His lab explores several areas:

• Prosody: This is the rhythm and patterns of spoken words.
• Individual differences in language processing: How different people process language in their own ways.
• Language production: How we create and speak language.

Helping Other Scientists

What Is Academic Service?

Professor Watson also helps the scientific community. In 2019, he was chosen to be the Chair-elect of the Governing Board of the Psychonomic Society. This is an important group for scientists who study how the mind works.

He also works as an Associate Editor for a science magazine called Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory, and Cognition.

Supporting Scientists of Color

Professor Watson started an organization called the SPARK society. This group helps scientists of color become leaders in cognitive science. In 2020, he was promoted to the Frank W. Mayborn Chair at Vanderbilt.

Personal Life

Duane Watson is married and has four children.