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Karen Emmorey is a linguist and language scientist known for her research on the neuroscience of sign language. Her work has deepened the understanding of language universals and how properties of language vary across auditory-vocal or visual-manual modalities. Emmorey holds the position of Distinguished Professor in the School of Speech, Language, and Hearing Sciences at San Diego State University, where she directs the Laboratory for Language and Cognitive Neuroscience.

Emmorey received the 2020 Distinguished Career Award from the Society for the Neurobiology of Language. Emmorey is a Fellow of the Linguistic Society of America and the American Association for the Advancement of Science.

Biography
Emmorey completed a B.A. in psychology and linguistics at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) in 1982. She continued her education at UCLA, receiving her Ph.D. of Linguistics in 1987. She worked under the supervision of Ursula Belugi at the Salk Institute. Previous to her joining the faculty at San Diego State University, Emmorey worked at the Salk Institute as the Associate Director of the Laboratory for Cognitive Neuroscience. While working there, Emmorey conducted research on the use of physical space in sign language funded by the National Science Foundation. Emmorey worked at the Salk institute as a Senior Staff Scientist at the Salk Institute for Biological Studies until 2005.

Emmorey has worked at San Diego State University since 1998. She has received numerous grants from the NIH for her work in language and bilingualism. She has also received several grants from the National Science Foundation for her work in communicative language. She recently received a NSF collaborative research grant to further her research into American Sign Language. In 2013, she received the Albert W. Johnson Research Lecturer for 2013, San Diego State University’s highest research honor.

Research
Emmorey's research is largely focused on the neurobiology of sign language. She utilizes studies on the brain for those who use sign language while the individual is currently using sign language, as well as those who are bilingual in sign language and an oral language. Her research has lead to finding similarities in the neural structure of language, regardless of modality. Emmorey's research into sign language also helps us understand more of the neurological differences that can arise from utilizing a different modality of language than speaking. In one notable study Emmorey found an advantage in sign language users when they had to detect mirror image reversals. Through her research on sign language, Emmorey was also able to show similarities in meaningful gestures and sign language and suggests that there may be modality independent system of semantics that plays a larger role in communication.

Emmorey's research is also integral to the study of bilingualism, especially as it focuses on multiple modalities of bilingualism. The research into this bilingual advantage has been controversial and her work helps to both add to the existing line of research and understand how multiple modalities of speech may impact this possible advantage. The research has helped understand more about the possible bilingual cognitive control advantage. In a study published in 2008, Emmorey and researchers looked at the possible differences in bilingual advantage in those who are bilingual in multiple modalities (speaking and signing) and those who are bilingual in the same modality (speaking). They found that those who were bimodal bilinguals did not perform differently from monolinguals in a set of flanker tasks, but the unimodal bilinguals were faster than both the monolinguals and the bimodal bilinguals. This type of study indicates that the possible bilingual advantage is only going to be found in unimodal bilinguals, due to them switching language in one modality.

Representative publications

 * Emmorey, K., Borinstein, H. B., Thompson, R., & Gollan, T. H. (2008). Bimodal bilingualism. Bilingualism (Cambridge, England), 11(1), 43.
 * Neville, H. J., Coffey, S. A., Lawson, D. S., Fischer, A., Emmorey, K., & Bellugi, U. (1997). Neural systems mediating American Sign Language: Effects of sensory experience and age of acquisition. Brain and language, 57(3), 285-308.
 * Emmorey, K., Kosslyn, S. M., & Bellugi, U. (1993). Visual imagery and visual-spatial language: Enhanced imagery abilities in deaf and hearing ASL signers. Cognition, 46(2), 139-181.
 * Emmorey, K., Luk, G., Pyers, J. E., & Bialystok, E. (2008). The source of enhanced cognitive control in bilinguals: Evidence from bimodal bilinguals. Psychological science, 19(12), 1201-1206.

Books

 * Emmorey, K. (2002). Language, cognition, and the brain: Insights from sign language research. Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.
 * Emmorey, K. (Ed.). (2003). Perspectives on classifier constructions in sign languages. Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.
 * Emmorey, K., & Lane, H. L. (Eds.). (2000). The signs of language revisited: An anthology to honor Ursula Bellugi and Edward Klima. Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.
 * Emmorey, K., & Reilly, J. S. (Eds.). (1995). Language, gesture, and space. Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.