Karen Emmorey Professor, Speech Language Director, Laboratory for Language & Cognitive Neuroscience Phone: (619) 594-8080 Office: SLHS 226 Office Hours:   By appointment Email: kemmorey@mail.sdsu.edu

Education: Ph.D. University of California, Los Angeles, 1987 Scholarly Areas: Dr. Karen Emmorey's research focuses on what sign languages can reveal about the nature of human language, cognition, and the brain. She studies the processes involved in how deaf people produce and comprehend sign language and how these processes are represented in the brain. She also investigates how experience with a signed language impacts nonlinguistic visual-spatial cognition, such as face processing, memory, and imagery. Her 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). Her 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. Biography: Dr. Emmorey received her Ph.D. in Linguistics in 1987 from the University of California, Los Angeles, and she was a Senior Staff scientist at the Salk Institute for Biological Studies from 1988-2005. While at the Salk Institute, Dr. Emmorey was the Associate Director of the Laboratory for Cognitive Neuroscience. Dr. Emmorey is the author of 4 books and more than 50 journal articles, and she currently holds several research grants from the National Institutes of Health and the National Science Foundation. Dr. Emmorey is also an Associate Editor for the Journal of Deaf Studies and Deaf Education, and she has been on the Editorial Board of Sign Language Studies, Sign Language & Linguistics, and the Journal of Memory and Language. Selected Publications: Emmorey, K., Grabowski, T.J., McCullough, S., Ponto, L., Hichwa, R., and Damasio, H. (2005) The neural correlates of spatial language in English and American Sign Language: A PET study with hearing bilinguals. NeuroImage. 24: 932-840. read Emmorey, K., and Wilson, M. (2005) The puzzle of working memory for sign language. Trends in Cognitive Sciences. 8: 521-523. read McCullough, S., Emmorey, K., and Sereno, M. (2005) Neural organization for recognition of grammatical and emotional facial expressions in deaf ASL signers and hearing nonsigners. Cognitive Brain Research. 22: 193-203. read Thompson, R., Emmorey, K., and Gollan, T. (2005) Tip-of-the-fingers experiences by ASL signers: Insights into the organization of a sign-based lexicon. Psychological Science. 16: 856-860. read Emmorey, K. Language, cognition, and the brain: Insights from sign language research. Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum and Associates, 2002. Links: Laboratory for Language & Cognitive Neuroscience