This oral history research explores silence as a meaningful form of communication rather than an absence of speech. Through documentary interviews with family members, the project examines how silence can express fear, shame, power, and agency, challenging dominant assumptions about listening and revealing how discomfort often prevents deeper understanding and connection.

This research develops a group-based attachment intervention for emerging adults, particularly college students. Combining individual attachment-history interviews with peer group discussions, the program promotes mentalization, emotional security, and relational growth. Using mixed-method evaluation, the study explores how young adults can reshape attachment patterns and build healthier interpersonal relationships.

This study examines whether picture-based communication boards can help minimally verbal autistic preschoolers initiate communication independently. Through structured play sessions, children are introduced to visual tools that may support self-expression without adult prompting. The research aims to enhance participation, language development, and autonomy by shifting children from passive observers to active communicators.

Political polarization increases identity threat during social interactions. This study examines how liberals and conservatives respond to politically and apolitically negative comments. Results show different types of identity threat emerge depending on context, with both groups experiencing similar levels overall. Findings highlight the complexity and nuance of identity threat in political engagement.

This research explores autistic university students’ experiences navigating sensory challenges and communication differences on campus. It highlights the “double empathy problem,” where misunderstandings occur between autistic and non-autistic individuals. Using applied linguistics, the study argues that mutual understanding is essential to ensure equitable access to education and improve student well-being and inclusion.

This research examines sound symbolism—the idea that certain sounds inherently convey meaning. Through cross-linguistic analysis of animal names, it investigates how phonetic features relate to perceived traits like size or danger. Findings could improve language learning, branding, and understanding of how human language evolved beyond arbitrary sound-meaning relationships.

This research explores how accents form in multilingual Malaysia, showing that subtle combinations of consonant and vowel features distinguish speakers. Even a single word carries identifiable acoustic cues. The findings highlight how listeners rapidly perceive identity through speech and emphasize the human complexity underlying language in an era of speech technology.

This study examines how children process the speech envelope, a key acoustic feature of language. Brain data from ages 4–18 reveal a developmental shift from left- to right-hemisphere processing. This newly identified trajectory may help detect language impairments and improve early interventions in speech and language development.

This research investigates how sign language experience reshapes the brain’s visual system. MRI studies show expanded hand-processing regions and reorganised face areas in both deaf and hearing signers, even when learning occurs in adulthood. The findings highlight neural plasticity and reveal how visual language transforms perception and brain organisation.

This research explores how personality traits influence patient safety among nurses and midwives in Ireland. Survey findings show that agreeableness, conscientiousness, and openness support safer care, while neuroticism may increase risk. The study proposes personality-tailored safety training to improve communication, teamwork, and life-saving performance.