Lightnews — Scholar-powered news

Karen Emmorey

@kemmorey.bsky.social

2.4K followers 390 following 72 posts

Professor at San Diego State University; sign languages, neuroscience, reading, gesture, all things linguistic

Posts Media Videos Starter Packs

Pinned

Karen Emmorey @kemmorey.bsky.social · Nov 11

With so many new followers, I thought I would send you all to my PSA "10 things you should know about sign languages" - open access here: journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10....

Ten Things You Should Know About Sign Languages - Karen Emmorey, 2023

The 10 things you should know about sign languages are the following: (1) Sign languages have phonology and poetry. (2) Sign languages vary in their linguistic ...

journals.sagepub.com

1 16 36

Reposted by Karen Emmorey

Jess Calarco @jessicacalarco.com · 1d

I have to fan-girl for a minute here. My friend @rosvall-lab.bsky.social built an app to gather data on bird behavior during the 2024 solar eclipse. 10,000+ citizen scientists contributed (including my kids), and the resulting paper was published in Science today!

www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...

Total solar eclipse triggers dawn behavior in birds: Insights from acoustic recordings and community science

On 8 April 2024, a total solar eclipse disrupted light-dark cycles for North American birds during the lead-up to spring reproduction. Compiling more than 10,000 community observations and artificial ...

www.science.org

9 140 480

Reposted by Karen Emmorey

SayItToMyFace🚫👑 @sayittomyface.bsky.social · 2d

Love this! So talented and creative. It’s the soundtrack to the scientific apocalypse we are living in! I follow @ellecordova.bsky.social here but this wasn’t posted. This was from TikTok! Enjoy!

19 240 420

Karen Emmorey @kemmorey.bsky.social · 4d

Skilled deaf readers exhibit BILATERAL hierarchical tuning in the visual word form system, unlike matched hearing readers. We suggest a shift from bilateral to left-lateralized processing is not necessary for successful reading. New paper led by Laurie Glezer. direct.mit.edu/nol/article/...

Bilateral Word Selectivity Gradients in the Visual Word Form System in Skilled Deaf Readers

Abstract. In hearing people visual word recognition relies on a hierarchical organization in left ventral occipitotemporal (vOT) cortex. While right hemisphere recruitment has been implicated in poor ...

direct.mit.edu

9 23

Reposted by Karen Emmorey

Chaz Firestone @chazfirestone.bsky.social · 4d

Out today!

www.cell.com/current-biol...

Screenshot of the PDF of:

Boger, T., & Firestone, C. (2025). Visual anagrams reveal high-level effects with 'identical' stimuli. Current Biology, 35, PR910–R912.

1 11 37

Karen Emmorey @kemmorey.bsky.social · 4d

This looks interesting!! Looking forward to reading Greg’s book 📖 🧠🤟

Greg Hickok @gregoryhickok.bsky.social · 6d

My attempt to depict the neural architecture of language as motivated in my forthcoming book, Wired for Words. Like colors represent functional connectivity. Main insight: linguistic levels are all organized with a sensorimotor-like architecture. pbs.twimg.com/media/G2cwsM...

Reposted by Karen Emmorey

Mark Peifer (He, him) @peiferlabunc.bsky.social · 5d

Fascinating thread about the identification of one of the first genes with a clear role in human speech and language! Extra credit for those who dig in to find out why its called a "forkhead domain" 🧪

Simon Fisher @profsimonfisher.bsky.social · 6d

Twenty-four years ago today, our paper “A forkhead-domain gene is mutated in a severe speech and language disorder” was published: www.nature.com/articles/350....
A personal thread about the ups & downs of the journey we took to get to that point....1/n
🗣️🧬🧪

Image shows the first two printed pages of the paper “A forkhead-domain gene is mutated in a severe speech and language disorder” by Cecilia Lai and colleagues, published in Nature in 2001 (volume 413, pages 519-523). The abstract reads as follows:
Individuals affected with developmental disorders of speech and language have substantial difficulty acquiring expressive and/or receptive language in the absence of any profound sensory or neurological impairment and despite adequate intelligence and opportunity. Although studies of twins consistently indicate that a significant genetic component is involved, most families segregating speech and language deficits show complex patterns of inheritance, and a gene that predisposes individuals to such disorders has not been identified. We have studied a unique three-generation pedigree, KE, in which a severe speech and language disorder is transmitted as an autosomal-dominant monogenic trait. Our previous work mapped the locus responsible, SPCH1, to a 5.6-cM interval of region 7q31 on chromosome 7. We also identified an unrelated individual, CS, in whom speech and language impairment is associated with a chromosomal translocation involving the SPCH1 interval. Here we show that the gene FOXP2, which encodes a putative transcription factor containing a polyglutamine tract and a forkhead DNA-binding domain, is directly disrupted by the translocation breakpoint in CS. In addition, we identify a point mutation in affected members of the KE family that alters an invariant amino-acid residue in the forkhead domain. Our findings suggest that FOXP2 is involved in the developmental process that culminates in speech and language.

1 13 29

Reposted by Karen Emmorey

Gregg Gonsalves @gregggonsalves.bsky.social · 8d

This isn't "signing on to Trump's plan"--it is straight up extortion--and "the benefits" are akin to Mafia protection. Nice university ya got there, shame if something should happen to it. Just. Say. No. www.washingtonpost.com/education/20...

Colleges weigh whether to sign onto Trump plan or forgo federal benefits

A new proposal from the Trump administration would give colleges funding advantages if they adopt conservative priorities.

www.washingtonpost.com

6 51 150

Reposted by Karen Emmorey

Max Planck Institute for Psycholinguistics @mpi-nl.bsky.social · 8d

We're seeking the next Director of the Max Planck Institute for Psycholinguistics! Lead cutting-edge research in language & cognition. Nominations (incl. self) due 19 Dec 2025.
mpi.nl/career-education/vacancies/vacancy/nominations-and-self-nominations-sought-position-director-max

45 40

Reposted by Karen Emmorey

wimpouw @wimpouw.bsky.social · 9d

www.envisionbox.org has been shortlisted for the Leo Waaijers Open Science price: ukb.nl/en/news/shor...

@babajideowoyele.bsky.social @jamestrujillo.bsky.social @sarkadava.bsky.social @DavideAhmar @acwiek.bsky.social

Amazing Markus Küpper made an animated video:
www.youtube.com/watch?v=HduI...

EnvisionBOX overview2025

YouTube video by Wim Pouw

www.youtube.com

2 11 18

Reposted by Karen Emmorey

Fernanda Ferreira @fernandaedi.bsky.social · 10d

Posting on behalf of Tamar Gollan, who is not on Bluesky:

A postdoc position is open and available immediately in Dr. Tamar Gollan’s Laboratory of Aging Bilingualism at the University of California, San Diego, funded by NIH & NSF. See link for details!

psychiatry.ucsd.edu/about/LAB_Go...

psychiatry.ucsd.edu

29 31

Reposted by Karen Emmorey

Nora Duggan @noraduggan.bsky.social · 22d

Application for a PhD position at our department is now open! We are looking for applicants that are interested in areas of sign language linguistics, general sign language studies, or deaf bilingualism/multilingualism. Deadline is 15th Oct. Please share away! su.varbi.com/en/what:job/...

PhD student in Linguistics, sign language

The Department of Linguistics at Stockholm University conducts research and offers education in a number of areas such as child language development, computational linguistics, general linguistics, ph

su.varbi.com

1 23 26

Reposted by Karen Emmorey

William Matchin @wmatchin.bsky.social · Sep 9

University of South Carolina has *7* tenure-track faculty positions in Neurobiology of Language:

tinyurl.com/USC-Faculty-...

Positions in COMD, Psych, Linguistics, School of Medicine.

@snlmtg.bsky.social #SNL2025, we will have a booth.

w/@rutvikdesai.bsky.social @imb-uofsc.bsky.social

4 29 52

Karen Emmorey @kemmorey.bsky.social · Sep 9

Definitely relevant to sign language researchers!

Limor Raviv 🐘🤗🦒🍄🦄 @limorraviv.bsky.social · Sep 9

Super proud of this work and very grateful for all the amazing people who provided valuable feedback along the way @remivantrijp.bsky.social @sheinalew.bsky.social @cedricboeckx.bsky.social @inbalarnon.bsky.social ❤️❤️❤️🙏

Max Planck Institute for Psycholinguistics @mpi-nl.bsky.social · Sep 9

Children are not the main agents of language change. New paper by @limorraviv.bsky.social @damianblasi.bsky.social & @vkempe.bsky.social.
psycnet.apa.org/doi/10.1037/...
www.mpi.nl/publications...

Karen Emmorey @kemmorey.bsky.social · Aug 29

I signed up for a protest in my hometown - you can too. Our voices matter

Nancy Kanwisher @nancykanwisher.bsky.social · Aug 29

I will be participating in four protests this weekend to resist the ongoing destruction of science, healthcare, and democracy in this country.
Please consider joining one of the many labor day rallies, you can find many of them here www.mobilize.us/mayday/
A few further thoughts in this thread...

Volunteer Opportunities, Events, and Petitions Near Me · May Day Strong on Mobilize

Find events, petitions, volunteer opportunities, fundraisers and more with May Day Strong.

www.mobilize.us

Reposted by Karen Emmorey

Adele Goldberg @adelegoldberg.bsky.social · Aug 24

UPDATE: Abstract deadline: Nov 1, 25! Invited speakers: Corrine Occhino, Dagmar Divjak, Idan Blank, Randy Allen Harris, Gary Lupyan, Laura Michaelis, Kanishka Misra !
@dagmardivjak.bsky.social @randyallenharris.bsky.social @congramqueen.bsky.social @glupyan.bsky.social @kanishka.bsky.social

Adele Goldberg @adelegoldberg.bsky.social · Aug 15

📌 👉 The 14th International Construction Grammar conference will be held at Princeton, June 4-7, 2026

Usage-based analyses and Empirical methods

Stay tuned for updates!

1 22 40

Reposted by Karen Emmorey

Gasper Begus @begus.bsky.social · Aug 20

Berkeley linguistics is hiring an Assistant Professor in language revitalization!

aprecruit.berkeley.edu/JPF05022

Assistant Professor - Language Revitalization - Linguistics

University of California, Berkeley is hiring. Apply now!

aprecruit.berkeley.edu

1 22 35

Reposted by Karen Emmorey

Gary Lupyan @glupyan.bsky.social · Aug 19

I'm teaching a grad seminar this Fall on the Cognitive Science of LLMs focusing on how they can act to stress test cognitive theories. If you have any readings that scream *yes this one!!* please send them my way!

3 2 7

Reposted by Karen Emmorey

Cadernos de Linguística @cadlin.bsky.social · Aug 18

In 1850, Hartford’s deaf alumni honored Clerc & Gallaudet with silver pitchers; by 1854, they built a monument funded solely by the deaf. These gatherings logged names and hometowns—evidence of an ASL network concentrating in New York, Boston, and Hartford.
doi.org/10.25189/267...
#linguistics

2 3

Karen Emmorey @kemmorey.bsky.social · Aug 13

The wonderful book True Biz by @novicsara.bsky.social made the top 10 list for One Book One San Diego (we all read the same book, bringing our community together). I so hope this book is selected!!

1 4

Karen Emmorey @kemmorey.bsky.social · Aug 12

"Reading with deaf eyes: Automatic activation of speech-based phonology during word recognition is task dependent" - new paper by @katerowley.bsky.social and colleagues. Hearing readers are often more distracted by phonology than deaf readers 😀
journals.plos.org/plosone/arti...

Reading with deaf eyes: Automatic activation of speech-based phonology during word recognition is task dependent

Literacy levels are highly variable within the deaf population and, compared to the general population, on average, reading levels are lower. As speech-based phonological coding is a known predictor o...

journals.plos.org

3 9

Reposted by Karen Emmorey

SNL Annual Meeting @snlmtg.bsky.social · Aug 11

#SNL2025 | Standard Registration Rate Deadline is August 19th. Register Now – Rates will Increase! Click here for more details: bit.ly/4jkigA4

2 1

Karen Emmorey @kemmorey.bsky.social · Aug 11

Yes! What’s also interesting is that the amount of early sign access seemed to be a better predictor than just age of exposure

Karen Emmorey @kemmorey.bsky.social · Aug 11

Yep!

1 1

Karen Emmorey @kemmorey.bsky.social · Aug 11

I'm thrilled to introduce DR. Brennan Terhune-Cotter who defended his dissertation last week! His work shows that occipital (visual) cortex is recruited during high-level language processing for ASL and that deaf adults who lack early sign access show greater activation in occipital cortex

Brennan standing next to his title slide "Exploring the neural network for sign language comprehension across deaf signers"

2 4 49

Reposted by Karen Emmorey

Jonathan Peelle @jpeelle.bsky.social · Aug 6

We now have a Society for the Neurobiology of Language Bluesky account @snlmtg.bsky.social! Follow for updates on the meeting. I'm really excited for our fantastic lineup of speakers!

#SNL2025

SNL Annual Meeting @snlmtg.bsky.social · Aug 4

Explore the #SNL2025 Keynote Speakers lineup! Find full details at: 2025.neurolang.org

6 19