The Comprehension Department undertakes empirical investigation and computational modeling of the understanding of spoken language. Until 2009, the work within the department was largely divided between two research projects: Decoding Continuous Speech, and Phonological Learning for Speech Perception.

From 2009 on, most of the work of the department goes into the project Mechanisms and Representations in Comprehending Speech. This project focuses on core theoretical issues in speech comprehension. For instance, how do episodic memories - such as hearing someone speak in an unfamiliar dialect - influence the speech perception system. Or, how is prior knowledge about one's language (phonotactic probabilities, lexical knowledge, frequent vs. infrequent word combinations) used during perception.

The group also participates in the projects Adaptive Listening and Categories across Language and Cognition.