Reading and Deafness (RAD) Lab

Reading is a complex cognitive process that requires a reader to integrate visual and linguistic information to efficiently and accurately extract meaning from text. Much of early schooling focuses on instructing children how to read, then pivots to children reading to learn. Reading is also necessary to communicate with others in a digital age and for independence during daily life. As such, the ability to read is essential for academic and professional success. In my research, I assess reading behaviors of deaf readers from strengths-based and bilingualism perspectives to understand the strategies that underlie skilled reading in this population. The ultimate goal of this line of research is to influence language and educational practices for deaf students to ensure we are meeting the needs of this underserved and understudied population.

Cooley, F. G. & Quinto-Pozos, D. (2026). Deaf child signers’ reading behaviors are predicted by their bilingual (signed and spoken) vocabularies: Evidence from eye-tracking. Journal of Eye-Movement Research, Special Issue: Eye Movements in Reading and Reading Related Difficulties, 19(4), 1–17. https://doi.org/10.3390/jemr19040083

Schotter, E. R., Milligan, S., Cooley, F. G., & Emmorey, K. (2026). Identifying the visual and linguistic sources of reading efficiency: A comparison of individual differences among deaf and hearing readers. Journal of Vision, 26(6), 2–2.

Sinclair, G., Cooley, F. G., Stringer, C., Saunders, E., Emmorey, K., & Schotter, E. R. (2026). The impact of an enhanced perceptual span on landing position: Evidence from hearing and deaf readers. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Human Perception and Performance, 52(3).

Cooley, F. G., Emmorey, K., Saunders, E., Sinclair, G., Stringer, C., & Schotter, E. R. (2025). Identifying text-based factors that contribute to the superior reading efficiency of skilled deaf readers: An eye-tracking study of length, frequency, and predictability. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory, and Cognition. https://doi.org/10.1037/xlm0001415

Cooley, F. G., Emmorey, K., Saunders, E., & Schotter, E. R. (2025). Presenting the Signers’ Eye-movements in English Reading (SEER) Corpus: An eye-tracking dataset of reading behaviors by deaf early signers and hearing non-signers. Behavior Research Methods, 58(1), 26. https://doi.org/10.3758/s13428-025-02881-2

Emmorey, K., Akers, E. M., Saunders, E., Bannazadeh, M., Droubi, E., Cooley, F. G., & Schotter, E. R. (2025). Assessing the Effects of Sign Language Experience Versus Deafness on the Leftward Reading Span. Cognitive Science, 49(12), e70162. https://doi.org/10.1111/cogs.70162

Schotter, E.R., Stringer, C., Cooley, F.G., Saunders, E., Sinclair, G., & Emmorey, K. (2024). The perceptual and word identification spans in reading: Evidence from deaf and hearing adults. Journal of Experimental Psychology: General.

Stringer, C., Cooley, F. G., Saunders, E., Emmorey, K., & Schotter, E.R. (2024). An enhanced leftward word identification for deaf readers. Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology

Cooley, F. G. & Quinto-Pozos, D. (2023). Examining speech-based phonological recoding during reading for adolescent deaf signers. Journal of Experimental Psychology: General, 152 (7), 1995-2007.

Quinto-Pozos, D. & Cooley, F. G. (2020). A developmental disorder of signed language production in a native deaf signer of ASL. Languages: Atypical Speech, Language, and Communication Development, 5 (40).

Shield, A., Cooley, F. G., & Meier, RP. (2017). Sign language echolalia in deaf children with Autism spectrum disorder, Journal of Speech, Language, and Hearing Research, 60, 1622-1634.

New eye-tracking research will help understand how deaf people process vocabulary

Vocabulary knowledge in American Sign Language supports English reading development