Elliot Lee Saltzman, PhD

Scholarly, Research, and/or Practice Interests

• Nonlinear dynamics of sensorimotor coordination and control in limb, torso, and speech articulators; Relative timing patterns among functional units of action; Coupling between action and perception, with emphasis on graph-dynamic and parameter-dynamic processes.

Courses Taught

• PT550: Scientific Basis of Human Movement; Instructor
  This is a lecture course designed to present students with a theoretical model to enhance examination and intervention that can be used regardless of the type of disease, impairment, functional limitation, or disability. The course is guided by the concept that in order to treat dysfunction, it is necessary to understand motor control and coordination processes. The relation between these processes and the individual’s functional anatomy, biomechanics, and surrounding environment will be described. The basic systems requirements proposed by Bernstein for an adequate motor control theory will be used as a way to critique theories currently used as a basis for physical therapy, and to introduce the concepts of system constraints and of dynamical systems theory. The ways in which the constraints/dynamics approach can be incorporated into the disablement model adopted by the APTA in its clinical practice guidelines will also be identified, and normal age-specific processes across the lifespan will be described. The manner in which this approach can provide tools for developing hypotheses on relations between impairments and function limitations for guiding therapeutic intervention will be identified. The results will allow the student to gain insight into how to conceptualize a holistic model of the factors that influence the patient’s behavior, identify causes of problems, and learn a thought process for examination and intervention.

Selected Publications

• Saltzman, E. (1979). Levels of sensorimotor representation. Journal of Mathematical Psychology, 91-163.
• Saltzman, E., & Kelso, J. A. S. (1987). Skilled actions: A task dynamic approach. Psychological Review, 94, 84-106.
• Saltzman, E. L. & Munhall, K. G. (1989). A dynamical approach to gestural patterning in speech production. Ecological Psychology, 1, (4), 333-382.
• Saltzman, E., & Munhall, K. G. (1992). Skill acquisition and development: The roles of state-, parameter-, and graph-dynamics. Journal of Motor Behavior, 24(1), 49-57.
• Byrd, D & Saltzman, E. (1998). Intragestural dynamics of multiple prosodic boundaries. Journal of Phonetics, 26, 173-199.
• Saltzman, E., Löfqvist, A., Kay, B., Kinsella-Shaw, J., & Rubin, P. (1998). Dynamics of intergestural timing: A perturbation study of lip-larynx coordination. Experimental Brain Research, 123, 412-424.
• Holt, K. G., Saltzman, E., Ellis, T., & Butcher, R. (2001). Teaching spasticity and weakness from a dynamic systems perspective-Part I. Neurology Report, 25, 102-105.
• Byrd, D., & Saltzman, E. (2003). The elastic phrase: Dynamics of boundary-adjacent lengthening. Journal of Phonetics, 31, 149-180.
• Lahav, A., Boulanger, A., Schlaug, G., & Saltzman, E. (). The power of listening: auditory-motor interactions in musical training. Annals of the New York Academy of Science, 1060, 189-194.
• Saltzman, E., Kubo, M., & Tsao, C.-C. (2006). Controlled variables, the uncontrolled manifold method, and the task-dynamic model of speech production. In P. Divenyi, S. Greenberg, & G. Meyer, (Eds.). Dynamics of speech production and perception. Amsterdam: IOP Press. Pp. 21-31.
• Saltzman, E., Nam, H., Goldstein, L., & Byrd, D. (2006). The distinctions between state, parameter and graph dynamics in sensorimotor control and coordination. In M. L. Latash & F. Lestienne, (Eds.). Motor control and learning. New York: Springer Publishing. Pp. 63-73.
• Goldstein, L., Pouplier, M., Chen, L., Saltzman, E., & Byrd, D. (2007). Gestural action units slip in speech production errors. Cognition, 103 (3), 386-412.
• Lahav, A., Saltzman, E., & Schlaug, G. (2007). Action representation of sound: Audiomotor recognition network while listening to newly acquired actions. Journal of Neuroscience, 27, 308-314.
• Saltzman, E., Nam, H., Krivokapic, J., & Goldstein, L. (2008). A task-dynamic toolkit for modeling the effects of prosodic structure on articulation. In P. A. Barbosa, S. Madureira, & C. Reis, (Eds.), Proceedings of the 4th International Conference on Speech Prosody (Speech Prosody 2008), Campinas, Brazil.
• Eldridge, M., Saltzman, E., & Lahav, A., (2010). Seeing what you hear: Visual feedback improves pitch recognition. Journal of Cognitive Psychology, 22 (7), 1078-1091.
• Mitra, V., Nam, H., Espy-Wilson, C., Saltzman, E., & Goldstein, L. (2010). Retrieving tract variables from acoustics: A comparison of different Machine Learning strategies. IEEE Journal of Selected Topics in Signal Processing, 4 (6), 1027-1045.

Selected Presentations

• Saltzman, E. (May, 2009). Overview of dynamics and graphs. Invited paper presented at the Workshop on Development of Language-related Systems in the First Five Years of Life: Seeds of Risk. University of Southern California, Los Angeles, CA.
• Saltzman, E. & Holt, K. (July, 2009). Affordances, effectivities, coordinative structures: A graph- and task-dynamic framework. Paper presented at the 15th International Conference on Perception and Action (ICPA-15), University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, MN.
• Goldfield, E., Holt, K., & Saltzman, E. (July, 2009). Information and dynamics as foundations for assistive devices. Paper presented at the 15th International Conference on Perception and Action (ICPA-15), University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, MN.
• Tiede, M., Goldstein, L., Mooshammer, C., Nam, H., & Saltzman, E. (March, 2010). Head movement correlates with increased effort in an accelerating speech production task. Poster presented at the 15th Biennial Conference on Motor Speech, Savannah, GA.
• Tyrone, M., Nam, H., Saltzman, E., Goldstein, L., & Mathur, G. (March, 2010). Modeling linguistic movement in American Sign Language. Poster presented at the 15th Biennial Conference on Motor Speech, Savannah, GA.
• Mitra, V., Nam, H., Espy-Wilson, C. Y., Saltzman, E., & Goldstein, L. (April, 2010). Machine learning strategies for recovering speech articulatory trajectories and gestures from speech. Invited paper presented at the 159th Meeting of the Acoustical Society of America, Baltimore MD.
• Nam, H., Mitra, V., Tiede, M., Saltzman, E., Goldstein, L., Espy-Wilson, C., Hasegawa-Johnson, M. (May, 2010). A procedure for estimating gestural scores from natural speech. Paper presented at the 11th International Conference on Spoken Language (Interspeech 2010), Makuhari, Japan.
• Tyrone, M. E., Nam, H., Saltzman, E., Mathur, G., & Goldstein, L. (May, 2010). Prosody and movement in American Sign Language: A Task-Dynamics approach. Paper presented at the 5th International Conference on Speech Prosody (Speech Prosody 2010), Chicago IL.
• Nam, H., Tyrone, M., Saltzman, E., Goldstein, L., & Mathur, G. (July, 2010). Applying Articulatory Phonology to Movement in American Sign Language. Poster presented at the 12th Conference on Laboratory Phonology (LabPhon-12), Albuquerque, NM.
• Saltzman, E. (October, 2010). Tutorial on task dynamics and articulatory phonology. Paper presented at 10th Conference on Theoretical Issues in Sign Language Research (TISLR-10) as part of special session on “Kinematics, dynamics and computer animation of American Sign Language: New developments in sign phonetics”. Purdue University, West Lafayette, IN.
• Saltzman, E. (April, 2011). Invariance and variability in sensorimotor coordination and control: A visual approach. Invited Haskins Laboratories 75th Anniversary Speaker Series talk presented at Haskins Laboratories, New Haven CT.
• Tiede, M., Goldstein, L., Mooshammer, C., Nam, H., Saltzman, E., & Shattuck‐Hufnagel, S. (June, 2011). Head movement is correlated with increased difficulty in an accelerating speech production task. Paper presented at the 9th International Seminar on Speech Production (ISSP-11). Montreal, Quebec, Canada.
• Stein, P., Young, D., Dennerlein, J., Kluzik, J., Nam, H., Mitra, V., Hsu, W.-H., & Saltzman, E. (July, 2011). Violin bowing: The use of redundancy in the mapping between mechanical and acoustic task-spaces by expert violinists. Poster presented at the 8th International Conference on Progress in Motor Control (PMC-XII), University of Cincinnati, Cincinnati OH.

Selected Grant Activity

• NIH, R01-DC-008780, “Variability and Error in Speech Production,” 09/01/07-08/31/12, Goldstein, L. (PI; Haskins Laboratories), Co-Investigator on award to Haskins Laboratories.
• NIH, R21-DC-009466, “Task Dynamics in the Production of ASL” 12/01/08-11/30/11, Tyrone, M. (PI; Haskins Laboratories), Co-Investigator on award to Haskins Laboratories.
• NSF, CNS-0932015, “CPS: MEDIUM: Programmable Second Skin to Re-educate Injured Nervous Systems” 9/1/09 – 9/31/12, Goldfield, E. (PI; Children’s Hospital, Boston MA), Co-Investigator on subaward to Boston University.
• Boston University; Collaborative Research: Landmark-Based Robust Speech Recognition Using Prosdy-Guided Models of Speech, 06/1/07 – 5/31/11, PI on subaward to Boston University (PI on main award: Dr. Carol Espy-Wilson, U Maryland).
• subaward to Boston University (PI on main award: Dr. Beverly Ulrich, U.Michigan; PI on subaward: Dr. Ken Holt), Research Investigator on subaward to Boston University.
• Boston University; Modeling Dynamic Resources to Solve Movement Problems; 08/1/02 – 06/31/06, Principle Investigator.
• Boston University; Temporal Structuring of Speech and Manual Gestures; 01/1/01 – 12/31/05.
• Boston University; Supplement to Task Dynamics: Goals and Time in Speech Production, 01/1/01 – 12/31/05, Principle Investigator.
• Boston University; Task Dynamics: Goals and Time in Speech Production, 06/01/97 — 05/31/00, Principle Investigator.

Consulting and Professional Activities

• Associate Advisor Young, D. E. (2009). The effects of optic flow manipulations on heading direction and gait coordination during over-ground walking.
• Ph.D. dissertation, Department of Rehabilitation Sciences, Boston University, Boston, MA.
• External Reviewer Lopresti-Goodman, S. (2009). Behavioral dynamics of affordance transitions.
• Ph.D. dissertation, Department of Psychology, University of Connecticut, Storrs CT.
• Associate Advisor Marinko, L. N. (2008). The influence of temporomandibular joint disorders on head-neck posture and movement.
• Ph.D. dissertation, Department of Rehabilitation Sciences, Boston University, Boston, MA.
• Associate Advisor: Clark, D. J. (2007). Neural determinants of voluntary force production in adults post-stroke. PhD dissertation, Department of Rehabilitation Sciences, Boston University, Boston, MA
• Associate Advisor: Sharpe, S. R. (2007). Physical constraints alter transverse plane trunk coordination during load carriage. PhD dissertation, Department of Rehabilitation Sciences, Boston University, Boston, MA
• External Reviewer Nam, H. (2007). A gestural coupling model of syllable structure
• Ph.D. dissertation, Department of Linguistics, Yale University, New Haven CT
• Primary Advisor Lahav, A. (2006). A hearing-doing mirror-neuron system: Musical applications for physical rehabilitation.
• Ph.D. dissertation, Department of Rehabilitation Sciences, Boston University, Boston, MA.
• Associate Advisor: Ho, C.-L. (2006). The effects of functional electrical stimulation on dynamics of walking in children with spastic cerebral palsy. PhD dissertation, Department of Rehabilitation Sciences, Boston University, Boston, MA
• Primary Advisor: Lahav, A. (2006). A hearing-doing mirror-neuron system: Musical applications for physical rehabilitation. PhD dissertation, Department of Rehabilitation Sciences, Boston University, Boston, MA
• Associate Advisor: Chou, Y.-H. (2005).Effects of symmetric and asymmetric optic flow speed manipulations on locomotion in younger and older adults. PhD dissertation, Department of Rehabilitation Sciences, Boston University, Boston, MA
• Member of Motor Speech in Adults and Children Organizing Committee for the 2003 Annual Meeting of the American Speech and Hearing Association (ASHA), Chicago, IL, 2003.
• Associate Advisor: Figueiredo, E. (2003). Movement sequence coordination of children born prematurely with and without white matter disease. PhD dissertation, Department of Rehabilitation Sciences, Boston University, Boston, MA.
• Associate Advisor: Kubo, M. (2003). The dynamical interaction between arms and trunk segments during walking. PhD dissertation, Department of Rehabilitation Sciences, Boston University, Boston, MA.
• Associate Advisor: Tsao, C.-C. (2003).Temporal organization and sequential structuring of the spontaneous movement of preterm very-low-birth-weight infants with white matter disorder. PhD dissertation, Department of Rehabilitation Sciences, Boston University, Boston, MA.

Editorial and Reviewing Functions

• Ad hoc Journal Reviewer:
• Brain Research, 1997 – present
• Journal of Speech and Hearing Research, 1997 – present
• Physica D, 1995 – present
• Cognitive Psychology, 1982 – present
• Cognition, 1990 – present
• Developmental Psychology; 1990 – present
• Journal of Experimental Psychology: General, 1989 – present
• Developmental Psychobiology, 1989 – present
• Journal of Neurophysiology, 1989 – present
• Ecological Psychology, 1988 – present
• Psychological Review, 1988 – present
• Science, 1984 – present

Ad hoc Grant Reviewer (1988 – present) – AFOSR, Donaghue Foundation, Fonds FCAR (Canada), Ford Foundation, NSERC (Canada), NIH, NSF,

Associate Journal Reviewer (1983 – present) – The Behavioral and Brain Sciences

Consulting Journal Editor (1981 – 1991), Ad Hoc reviewer (1991 – present) – Journal of Motor Behavior