Cognitive Science Speaker Series | Crossmodal language processing in deaf bilinguals: Children and adults co-activate signs when reading printed words
Speaker: Agnes Villwock Ph.D.
Title: Crossmodal language processing in deaf bilinguals: Children and adults co-activate signs when reading printed words
Short Bio: In January 2025, I joined the College of Science at RIT as an Assistant Professor of Cognitive Science/Neuroscience. Before moving to Rochester, I was an Assistant Professor of Sign Languages at the Humboldt-University of Berlin, Germany, and a Visiting Professor at the University of Hamburg, Germany. I got my PhD in Cognitive Neuroscience at the University of Hamburg, Germany, in 2016 and worked as a Postdoc at the University of California, San Diego. In my research, I address questions concerning neuroplasticity as a consequence of sensory and linguistic experience. To this end, I apply behavioral, neurophysiological, and neuroimaging methods. My main research interests include topics such as deafness, multisensory integration, language processing, bilingualism, and the critical period of language acquisition.
Abstract: Crossmodal language processing in deaf bilinguals: Children and adults co-activate signs when reading printed words.
In this talk, I will present data from two studies with adults and middle-school students, focusing on language processing in deaf signers and hearing controls in the United States. While language experiences in the Deaf Community vary highly, deaf signers are almost universally bimodal-bilingual users of a signed language and a spoken language, the latter often in its written form. Understanding how two languages that do not share the same modality are processed during development and adulthood is crucial to identifying the important factors of successful language acquisition and literacy. The results of my work indicate that a crossmodal co-activation of signs and written words can be observed in deaf adults as well as during development. I will conclude my presentation with an outlook on an ongoing EEG study on the co-activation between written German and German Sign Language (DGS).
ASL-English interpreters have been requested. Light refreshments will be provided.
Event Snapshot
When and Where
Who
Open to the Public
Interpreter Requested?
Yes