Lab Affiliation: Laboratory for Language and Cognitive Neuroscience

Research Interests:

My research focuses on what sign languages can reveal about the nature of human language, cognition, and the brain. My lab studies the processes involved in how deaf people produce and comprehend sign language and how these processes are represented in the brain. We also investigates how experience with a signed language impacts nonlinguistic visual-spatial cognition, such as face processing, memory, and imagery. My research interests include how language modality impacts spatial language (talking about space), the linguistic functions of eye gaze in sign language, and the nature of bimodal bilingualism (ASL-English bilinguals). My investigations of the neural correlates of language and nonlinguistic cognitive functions draw on data from neuroimaging (fMRI and PET) and from patients who have suffered unilateral brain damage.

Recent Publications:

Books:

Emmorey, K. (2002). Language, cognition, and the brain: Insights from sign language research. Lawrence Erlbaum and Associates: Mahwah, NJ.

Emmorey, K. (2003). Perspectives on classifier constructions in sign languages. (Editor). Lawrence Erlbaum and Associates: Mahwah, NJ.

Emmorey, K., & Lane, H. (2000). The signs of language revisited: An anthology to honor Ursula Bellugi and Edward Klima, (Editors), Lawrence Erlbaum Associates: Mahwah, NJ.

Journal Articles:

Emmorey, K., & McCullough, S. (2009). The bimodal brain: Effects of sign language experience. Brain and Language, 110(2), 208-21.

Emmorey, K., Luk, G., Pyers, J., & Bialystok, E. (2008). The source of enhanced executive control in bilinguals: Evidence from bimodal bilinguals. Psychological Science, 19(12), 1201-1206.

Emmorey, K., Borinstein, H.B., Thompson, R., & Gollan, T.H. (2008). Bimodal bilingualism. Bilingualism: Language and Cognition, 11(1), 43-61.

Emmorey, K., Mehta, S., & Grabowski, T. J. (2007). The neural correlates of sign and word production. NeuroImage, 36, 202-208.