Carina Pals, Ph.D.
Assistant ProfessorDr. Carina Pals is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Psychology. She received her MSc in Cognitive Science and Technology, with a major in Language and Speech Technology, from the University of Groningen, the Netherlands. After working in software development for a few years she returned to science, and Groningen, to pursue a PhD in Behavioral and Cognitive Neuroscience, on the topic of Listening Effort in Cochlear Implant Users. Her scientific field of interest is ‘Auditory Cognition’: a fairly new, interdisciplinary field of research in which cognitive and experimental psychology, neuroscience, audiology, linguistics, and more, come together to study hearing, hearing impairment, and speech comprehension, and their interaction with cognition. Her research has mainly centered on cochlear-implant hearing, but also included side projects on second-language speech perception and verbal response-time. Dr. Pals was born and raised in the Netherlands. She has traveled a lot within Europe, the US, and some in Asia, mostly within South Korea. Now that she is living in Korea she is looking forward to exploring more of Asia, and trying all the delicious Korean food. Besides traveling, her hobbies include hiking, water sports, Argentine tango, photography, and knitting.
Research: My current interests are Speech understanding in challenging listening conditions, listening effort, hearing impairment, and listening effort in non-native listeners.Area specialty: Auditory perception and cognition. I currently teach the following undergraduate courses: Cognitive Psychology, Cognitive Neuropsychology, Sensation and Perception, Memory and Cognition in Everyday Life, Human Factors & Ergonomics, and a special topic on Language and Speech at the University of Utah AsiaCampus.
carina.pals@psych.utah.edu U736