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 and book chapters:

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

Emmorey, K. (2006). The signer as an embodied mirror neuron system: Neural mechanisms underlying sign language and action. In M. A. Arbib (Ed). Action to language via the mirror neuron system, pp. 103-135, Cambridge University Press.

Emmorey, K. (2006). The role of Broca’s area in sign language. In Y. Grodzinsky & K. Amunts (Eds), Broca’s Region, pp. 167-182. Oxford University Press.

Journal Articles:

Wilson, M. & Emmorey, K. (2006). No difference in memory span between sign and speech. Psychological Science, 17(12), 1093-1094.

Provine, R. & Emmorey, K. (2006). Laughter among deaf signers. Journal of Deaf Studies and Deaf Education, 11, 403-409.

Wilson, M. & Emmorey, K. (2006). Comparing sign language and speech reveals a universal limit on short term memory capacity. Psychological Science, 17(8), 682-683.

Thompson, R., Emmorey, K., & Kluender, R. (2006). The relationship between eye gaze and agreement in American Sign Language: An eye-tracking study. Natural Language and Linguistic Theory, 24, 571-604.