Research
I am interested broadly in the evolution of
communication, speech production and perception, and pragmatics. Below are
papers from several different lines of research.
Vocal changes across the menstrual cycle
In collaboration with Martie Haselton
and Elizabeth
Pillsworth, I am working on projects examining
the production and perception of vocal changes across the ovulatory cycle in
women.
Bryant, G. A., & Haselton, M. G. (2009). Vocal cues of ovulation in human females. Biology Letters, 5, 12-15. PDF
Vocal emotions across cultures
In collaboration with Clark Barrett I
worked in Amazonian Ecuador exploring universals in vocal affect recognition in
the Shuar, an indigenous population.
Bryant, G. A.,
& Barrett, H. C. (2008). Vocal
emotion recognition across disparate cultures. Journal of Cognition
and Culture, 8, 135-148. PDF
Bryant, G. A., & Barrett, H. C. (2007). Recognizing
intentions in infant-directed speech: Evidence for universals. Psychological Science,
18(8),
746-751. PDF
Prosodic features of verbal irony
My empirical interest in the voice began with a series of projects in
collaboration with Jean
Fox Tree, culminating in my dissertation work, investigating the use of
prosodic (i.e., pitch, loudness, and duration) cues in the production and recognition
of verbal irony in spontaneous speech.
Bryant, G. A. (under review). Verbal irony in the wild.
Bryant, G. A. (in press). Prosodic contrasts in ironic speech. Discourse Processes.
Bryant, G. A., & Fox Tree, J. E. (2005). Is there an ironic
tone of voice? Language and Speech, 48(3), 257-277. PDF
Bryant, G. A., & Fox Tree, J. E. (2002). Recognizing
verbal irony in spontaneous speech. Metaphor and Symbol, 17(2),
99-117.
PDF
Language, speech, and relevance
I am currently collaborating with Raymond
Gibbs on studies investigating the linguistic devices, speech characteristics,
and cognitive processes of language understanding in natural contexts.
Gibbs, R. W., & Bryant, G. A. (2008). Striving
for optimal relevance when answering questions. Cognition, 106(1), 345-369. PDF
Evolution and music cognition
In collaboration with Edward
Hagen, I have been involved with research exploring one possible route for
the evolution of music and dance.
Hagen, E. H., & Bryant, G. A. (2003). Music and dance as a
coalition signaling system. Human Nature, 14(1), 21-51. PDF
Production and perception of Acoustic
correlates of strength
In collaboration
with Aaron
Sell I am involved with research examining vocal cues of strength in men.
Sell, A., Bryant, G. A., Cosmides, L., Tooby, J., Sznycer, D., von Rueden, C.,
Krauss, A., & Gurven, M. (under review). Adaptations
in humans for assessing physical strength from the voice.
Reviews and
commentaries
Haselton, M. G., Bryant, G. A., Wilke, A., Frederick, D. A., Galperin, A., Frankenhuis, W. E.,
& Moore, T. (2009). Adaptive rationality: An
evolutionary perspective on cognitive bias. Social
Cognition, 27(5), 733-763. PDF
Bryant, G. A. (2006). On hasty generalization
about evolutionary psychology. Book Review of Adapting
Minds. David J. Buller. American Journal of
Psychology, 19(3), 481-487. PDF
Bryant, G. A. (2006). Book Review: Figurative language
comprehension: Social and cultural influences. H. L. Colston & A. N. Katz (Eds.). Metaphor and
Symbol, 21(1), 61-65. PDF
Cosmides,
L., Tooby, J., Fiddick, L.,
& Bryant, G. A. (2005). Detecting cheaters. Trends
in Cognitive Sciences, 9(11), 505-506. PDF
Bryant, G. A., & Gibbs, R. W. (2002). You don't say:
Figurative language and thought. Behavioral and Brain Sciences, 25(6),
678-679. PDF