G. Lynn Kurteff, PhD

About Me

I'm originally from the Monterey Bay. I did my undergrad in Psychology and Linguistics at UC Berkeley. I split my time in undergraduate between three labs across these two departments, which you can read about in my CV.

After undergraduate, I worked as an RA in the Chang Lab at UCSF. I was involved primarily in the Recovery from Aphasia project, where I collected pre-, post- and intra-operative language assessments from tumor patients. I published my first papers from my work in the Chang Lab, which you can read more about in my research interests. I noticed a large disconnect between basic science research on aphasia, the brain, and language, and what I was observing in the hospital, which inspired me to apply to the joint PhD/MS in Speech & Hearing Sciences at UT Austin.

I completed my PhD in Austin, Texas under the tutelage of Dr. Liberty Hamilton. My doctoral research focused on the neural bases of speech production and perception in healthy individuals, which I investigated through EEG and ECoG. My dissertation research is published in Journal of Neuroscience and Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience. I also studied how the neural substrates of speech motor control break down in disorders such as aphasia, apraxia of speech, and stuttering, as well as how we can build brain-computer interfaces for communication to help populations with neurological impairment.

After my PhD, I continued to work with Dr. Hamilton as a postdoctoral researcher. I recently moved back to California to work with Dr. Greg Hickok at UC Irvine as a postdoc in the Auditory & Language Neuroscience lab as a part of the C-STAR grant. My goal for this position is to provide insight on how different patterns of nervous system damage can lead to different profiles of speech difficulties in people with apraxia of speech.

I spend my free time playing board games with my wife, competing in Magic: The Gathering tournaments, collecting fountain pens, and cuddling my pets, pictured below.

My Research

As a neuroscientist, linguist, and speech-language pathologist, my research spans a broad interdisciplinary area concerning how the brain gives rise to language. Specifically, I like to straddle the line between clinical practice and basic science research by expanding our knowledge of neural processes that break down in communication disorders. For my PhD research, this focused on speaker-induced suppression, the observation that sounds we produce yield less of a neural response than sounds produced by other people. Speaker-induced suppression is an important biomarker for the speech motor control system, which governs how (among other things) we use our real-time auditory feedback while speaking to ensure we speak accurately to our intentions. Speech motor control is an important cognitive process for several communication disorders, such as stuttering, aphasia, and apraxia of speech.

My long-term goal as a researcher is to translate to our knowledge of the neural basis of speech production and into "brain-to-speech" brain-computer interfaces (BCIs). I believe that a strong theoretical explanation of how linguistic processes work in the brain is imperative for such devices to exist. I would like to see both consumer and medical BCI for speech and language developed in my lifetime. Right now BCI are being developed for decoding intended speech from neural motor programs, but what if there is a breakdown in the system? How do we adapt our encoding and decoding algorithms to accomodate for apraxia of speech and aphasia? What could creating such a device teach us about these communication disorders?

I also have a thing about scientific communication, or how scientists like me can make our results understood by the general public and other relevant professions (in my case: neurologists and speech therapists). More specifically, the classic Broca/Wernicke model of language needs to be updated in theory, in medicine, and in undergraduate curricula. At UCSF, I met with patients who had Broca's area resected with no damage to their speech and language functionality just two days after their surgeries. The language network can function without one of the two "fundamental" brain regions, but why? Similarly, I believe there needs to be more room for the insula in neurobiological models of language. Working with stereo EEG depth electrodes during my PhD uncovered a lot of fascinating responses to speech stimuli in the insula: my reseach shows that the insula plays a role in perception and production, and critically, the integration of these dichotomized processes for processing auditory feedback during speech motor control. The absence of the insula from the textbooks generated by my field is, in my opinion, a byproduct of the "pial-centric" view of the neurobiology of language.

Curriculum Vitae

Download a PDF here.

Education

• University of Texas, Austin (2018-2024). PhD in Speech, Language and Hearing Sciences. Advised by Liberty S. Hamilton, PhD. Dissertation: Cortical Suppression of Auditory Feedback during Speech Production and Perception. [doi] [pdf]
• University of Texas, Austin (2018-2020). M.S. in Speech, Language and Hearing Sciences. Thesis: Modulation of neural responses to naturalistic speech production and perception. [doi] [pdf]
• University of California, Berkeley (2012-2015). B.A. in Linguistics and Psychology.

Research Interests

• Neurobiology of speech production and perception, speech motor control, auditory feedback, apraxia of speech, aphasia

Papers

• Zhao, L., Silva, A.B., Kurteff, G.L., & Chang, E.F. (2025). Inhibitory control of speech production in the human premotor frontal cortex. Nature Human Behavior. [doi] [pdf]
• Kurteff, G.L., Tyler-Kabara, E.C., Clarke, D., Weiner, H.L., Anderson, A.E., Watrous, A., Asghar, S., Field, A., & Hamilton, L.S. (2024). Spatiotemporal mapping of auditory onsets during speech production. Journal of Neuroscience. [doi] [pdf]
• Kurteff, G.L., Lester-Smith, R.A., Martinez, A., Currens, N., Holder, J., Villarreal, C., Mercado, V.R., Truong, C., Huber, C., Pokharel, P., & Hamilton, L.S. (2023). Speaker-induced suppression in EEG during a naturalistic reading and listening task. Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience. [doi] [pdf]
• Levy, D.F., Silva, A.B., Scott, T., Liu, J., Harper, S., Zhao, L., Hullett, P., Kurteff, G., Andrews, J., Wilson, S.M., Leonard, M., & Chang, E.F. (2023). Apraxia of speech with phonological alexia and agraphia following resection of the left middle precentral gyrus: illustrative case. Journal of Neurosurgery: Case Lessons. [doi] [pdf]
• Ammanuel, S., Almeida, N.C., Kurteff, G., Kakaizada, S., Molinaro, A., Berger, M.S., Chang, E.F., & Hervey-Jumper, S.L. (2022). Natural language assessment correlates with health-related quality of life in adult glioma patients. Journal of Neuro-Oncology. [doi] [pdf]
• Chang, E.F., Kurteff, G., Andrews, J., Briggs, R.G., Conner, A.K., Battiste, J.D., & Sughrue, M.E. (2020). Pure apraxia of speech after resection based in the posterior middle frontal gyrus. Neurosurgery. [doi] [pdf]
• De Witte, E., Piai, V., Kurteff, G., Cai, R., Mariën, P., Dronkers, N., Chang, E.F., & Berger, M.S. (2019). A valid alternative for in-person language assessments in brain tumor patients: Feasibility and validiy measures of the new TeleLanguage test. Neuro-Oncology Practice. [doi] [pdf]
• Chang, E.F., Kurteff, G., & Wilson, S.M. (2018). Selective interference with syntactic encoding during sentence production by direct electrocortical stimulation of the inferior frontal gyrus. Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience. [doi] [pdf]

Posters

• Kurteff, G.L., Tyler-Kabara, E.C., Clarke, D., Weiner, H.L., Anderson, A.E., Watrous, A., Asghar, S., Field, A., & Hamilton, L.S. (2024). Intracranial EEG Processing of Auditory Feedback in Perisylvian Cortex. Poster session presented at the Annual Meeting of the Cognitive Neuroscience Society, Toronto, ON, Canada. [pdf]
• Hamilton, L.S., Asghar, S., Desai, M,, Kurteff, G.L., Field, A., Nussbaum, N.L., Clarke, D., Tyler-Kabara, E.C., Anderson, A., & Weiner, H.L. (2023). Utilizing Clinical Intracranial Epilepsy Monitoring Infrastructure for Basic Science Research of Speech and Language Development. Poster session presented at the Annual Meeting of the Child Neurology Society, Vancouver, BC, Canada.
• Kurteff, G., & Hamilton, L.S. (2022a; 2022b). Stereo EEG mapping of sensorimotor responses to self-generated speech. Poster session presented at a. the Annual Meeting of the Texas Speech-Language Hearing Association, Fort Worth, TX; b. Association for Research in Otolaryngology, virtual meeting due to COVID-19. [pdf]
• Cheng, C., Young, N., Teplansky, K., Kurteff, G., Salman, R., Mau, T., & Wang, J. (2022). Fricative production in laryngeal, electrolaryngeal, and tracheoesophageal speech. Poster session presented at the biannual meeting of the Conference on Motor Speech, Charleston, SC.
• Kurteff, G., & Hamilton, L.S. (2021). Encoding of phonological features in intracranial recordings of human speech cortex during a dual perception-production task. Poster session presented at the Annual Meeting of Advances and Perspectives in Auditory Neuroscience, virtual meeting due to COVID-19. [slides]
• Kurteff, G., Martinez, A., Currens, N., Holder, J., Mercado, V., Truong, C., Huber, C., Pokharel, P., & Hamilton, L.S. (2020a; 2021b). Methods for investigating continuous speech production and perception with EEG. Poster session presented at a. the Annual Meeting of the Society for Neurobiology of Language; b. Texas Speech-Language Hearing Association, virtual meetings due to COVID-19. [pdf]
• Kurteff, G., Fox, N.P., Dronkers, N.F., Desai, M., Shafi, A., & Chang, E.F. (2019). Behavioral and neuroanatomical description of stimulation-induced speech arrest. Poster session presented at the Annual Meeting of the Cogntive Neuroscience Society, San Francisco, CA, USA. [pdf]
• Chang, E.F., Kurteff, G., & Wilson, S.M. (2017). Selective interference with syntactic encoding during sentence production by direct electrocortical stimulation of the inferior frontal gyrus. Poster session presented at the Annual Meeting of the Society for the Neurobiology of Language, Baltimore, MD, USA. [pdf]
• De Witte, E., Piai, V., Kurteff, G., Cai, R., Berger, M.S., Chang, E.F., & Dronkers, N. (2016). Usability and validity of a phone battery to assess language functions in brain tumor patients undergoing awake surgery. Poster session presented at the Annual Meeting of the Academy of Aphasia, Llandudno, Wales, UK and Society of Neurooncology, Scottsdale, AZ, USA. [pdf]

Research Experience

• UC Irvine Department of Cognitive Sciences (2024-present). Postdoctoral scholar studying patterns of neurobiological impairment in stroke survivors with apraxia of speech. PI: Greg Hickok, PhD.
• UT Austin Department of Speech, Language and Hearing Sciences (2018-2024). PhD student studying speech production and perception. PI: Liberty S. Hamilton, PhD. Rotated in Jun Wang, PhD's lab Fall 2021. Reached candidacy Spring 2023. Defended dissertation June 2024. Brief postdoc in Dr. Hamilton's lab Summer 2024.
• UCSF Department of Neurological Surgery (2016-2018). Research specialist studying aphasia found in postoperative neurosurgical patients. PI: Edward F. Chang, MD.
• UC Berkeley Department of Linguistics (2015). Undergraduate researcher studying coarticulation and individual variation of coda /r/ and /l/ using ultrasound vocal tract imaging. PI: Sarah Bakst.
• UC Berkeley Department of Linguistics (2015). Undergraduate researcher documenting and morphologically glossing Matsigenka, a highly polysynthetic Arawakan language. PI: Lev Michael, PhD.
• Golden Bear Sleep & Mood Research Clinic (2014-2015). Research assistant studying cognitive functioning in teenagers with poor sleep hygiene. PI: Allison Harvey, PhD.

Clinical Experience

• Ascension (2021). Graduate student clinician. Supervisor: Elizabeth Otterbein, M.S., CCC-SLP. MBSIMmP evaluation, beside swallow evaluation, gender-affirming voice therapy, TEP prosthesis maintenance, myofascial release.
• All Care Therapies of Georgetown (2020). Graduate student clinician. Supervisors: Holly Mouton, M.S., CCC-SLP; Lynzy Melzer, M.A., CCC-SLP. Early language intervention, phonological processes, articulation.
• Stony Point High School (2020). Graduate student clinician. Supervisors: Jeanette Fields, M.S., CCC-SLP; Vanessa Baca, M.S., CCC-SLP. Pull-in and push-out services for stuttering, autism, developmental language, and articulation.
• UT Speech and Hearing Center (2019-2020). Graduate student clinician. Supervisors: Nickole Hines-Staples, M.S., CCC-SLP; Jessica Franco, PhD, CCC-SLP; Kristy Armer, M.S., CCC-SLP. Pediatric: articulation, phonological processes; adult: autism, expressive aphasia.

Teaching Experience

• UT Austin (2019-2023). Guest lecturer for the departments of Speech, Language, and Hearing Sciences, Linguistics, and Natural Sciences. Lecture titles: "Introduction to EEG," "Broca and Wernicke are Dead," "Cortical Stimulation Mapping."
• UT Austin (2021). Primary instructor (AI) for SLH/LIN350 "Language and the Brain" Fall 2021.
• UT Austin (2019-2020). TA for CSD/LIN350 "Language and the Brain" Fall 2019 and Fall 2020 (virtual). Professor: Liberty S. Hamilton, PhD.
• UC Berkeley DeCal Program (2013-2015). Student instructor of two unit "Intro to 3D Modeling and Printing" class. Co-taught class on fundamentals of 3D modeling and 3D printing in Autodesk CAD software with three other student instructors for three semesters.

Honors and Awards

• UT Austin CARE Research Day (2024). Best Poster award. Award amount: $50.
• Texas Speech-Language-Hearing Foundation (2024). International travel grant. Award amount: $1,700.
• William Orr Dingwall Foundation (2023-2024). Cognitive, Clinical, and Neural Foundations of Language fellow. Award amount: $40,000.
• UT Austin (2023). Graduate School Fellow. Award amount: $10,762 (declined due to extenuating financial circumstances).
• Texas Speech-Language-Hearing Foundation (2023). President’s Research Endowment Fund recipient. Award amount: $1,375.
• Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory (2022). Regeneron Scholarship recipient for Genetics & Neurobiology of Language course. Award amount: $1,750.
• Texas Speech-Language Hearing Association (2021 & 2022). 2x Audiology Research Symposium award winner. Award amount: $250 ea.
• The University of Texas at Austin (2019-2022). Moody Doctoral fellow. Award amount: $5,000.
• The University of Texas at Austin (2018-2019). Provost fellow. Award amount: $5,000.
• The University of California, Berkeley (2015). Dean's Honors.

Academic and Community Service

• Trans Voice Initiative (2024-present). Member.
• Out in STEM (oSTEM; 2022-2024). Member.
• brainWaves podcast (2019-2020). Host.
• Yellow Bike Project (2019-2020). Volunteer bike mechanic.
• Society for Linguistics Undergraduate Students (SLUgS) (2014-2015). Officer.
• 3D Modeling Club (3DMC) (2013-2015). Founding member.
• FIRST Lego League (2012). Student mentor.

Ad-hoc Review

I have served as an anonymous peer reviewer for these journals:

• Brain
• Neurobiology of Language

Research Toolkit

• I have experience with a wide variety of neuroimaging techniques; here they are in rough order of proficiency: sEEG, ECoG, EEG, cortical stimulation mapping, structural MRI, functional MRI
• Whenever possible, I prefer to use Python for my research. I am comfortable in MATLAB and R as well, and I sometimes use Swift (Apple flavor of C) for task design.
• I am trained as a speech-language pathologist (still working on that license!) and have collected the behavioral data for most of my publications myself.
• Most of my quantitative methods fall under the broad umbrellas of linear regression and non-parametric statistics. I have dabbled in machine learning and Bayesian statistics. Some example approaches I've used in the past are (non-exhaustive): multivariate temporal receptive field modeling, voxel-based lesion symptom mapping, convex non-negative matrix factorization, canonical correlation analysis.
• I've become familiar with a variety of image and audio processing software in my research, including Praat, MRIcron/MRIcroGL, FreeSurfer, ffmpeg, Audacity, and Adobe Illustrator.
• For typesetting I am experienced in LaTeX and HTML/CSS (in that order). Paperpile is my favorite reference manager and it isn't close!

Contact

The best way to contact me is via email.

Email Me

lkurteff [at] uci [dot] edu

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