Taffeta Elliott, PhD
Associate Professor of Psychology
Chair, CLASS Department
- taffeta.elliott@nmt.edu 鈥� Fitch 214
(575) 835-5439
Office Hours: email three days of availability or see syllabus
Dr. Taffeta Elliott's teaching and research interests span Neuroethology, Systems Neuroscience, Psychology of Language, Music Cognition, Auditory Psychophysics, Sensory Ecology of Animal Communication, and Educational Assessment.
Neuroscience
Complex vocal sounds are crucial for social interactions. Our neuroscience research
focuses on how the auditory system makes sense of the acoustic structure in vocal
communications, in order to release responses and mediate behavior. Using wildlife
in the field and invertebrates as model systems, we combine approaches of neurophysiological
recording, passive automated sound monitoring, and behavior. Behavioral psychophysics
projects in humans aim at understanding how perception integrates complex sound features
to recognize speaker identity and meaning in speech, as well as timbre in musical
instruments.
Assessment and student success in higher education
We are extending research on evidence-based study skills to students in STEM programs
at a Hispanic-Serving Institution (HSI) public university. Supportive training for
these college students has worked well regardless of whether the messaging about studying
appealed to research by scientist authorities or whether it rather appealed to their
own social group identity.
Taffeta received her Ph.D. in Neurobiology & Behavior from Columbia University in the City of New York.