Current Research

My current research interests focus on the role of iconicity in gesture and language, as well as on the acquisition and use of language.  

CURRENT RESEARCH:

ASL Vocabulary Acquisition Project 

With Dr. Naomi Caselli we are investigating the factors that predict the development of early sign vocabulary in children learning American Sign Language. We are collaborating with Dr. Amy Lieberman to develop reliable measures of early vocabulary development in singing children.

About the project: http://sites.bu.edu/aslvocab/

  • Caselli, N., Lieberman, A., & Pyers., J. (accepted). The ASL-CDI 2.0: An updated, normed adaptation of the MacArthur Bates Communicative Development Inventory for American Sign Language
  • Caselli, N., & Pyers, J. (2019). Degree and not type of iconicity affects sign language vocabulary acquisition.  Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory, and Cognition.
  • Caselli, N., & Pyers, J. (2017). The road to language learning is not entirely iconic: Iconicity, neighborhood density, and frequency facilitate sign language acquisition, Psychological Science, 7, 979-987.

 

Nicaraguan Sign Language

In collaboration with Dr. Ann Senghas, our team investigates the factors that shape the emergence of language, and we leverage the case of language emergence to understand how learning a young language shapes human cognition. 

See: http://www.columbia.edu/~as1038/about-nsl.html

  • *Kocab, A., Pyers, J.E., & Senghas, A. (2015). Referential shift in Nicaraguan Sign Language: A transition from lexical to spatial devices. Frontiers in Psychology, 5.
  • Martin, A., Senghas, A., Pyers, J. (2013). Age of acquisition effects on mental rotation: Evidence from Nicaraguan Sign Language. In Proceedings of the 37th Boston University Conference on Language Development. Somerville, MA: Cascadilla Press.
  • Pyers, J., Shusterman, A., Senghas, A., Spelke, E., & Emmorey, K. (2010). Evidence from an emerging sign language reveals that language supports spatial cognition. Proceedings of the National Academy of Science, 107, 12116–12120.
  • Pyers, J., & Senghas, A. (2009). Language promotes false-belief understanding: Evidence from Nicaraguan Sign Language. Psychological Science, 20, 805-812.
  • Senghas, R., Senghas, A., & Pyers, J. (2004). The emergence of Nicaraguan Sign Language: Questions of development, acquisition, and evolution.  In S. T. Parker, J. Langer, & C. Milbrath (Eds.), Biology and knowledge revisited: From neurogenesis to psychogenesis (287-306). Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.

 

Bimodal Bilingualism

Bimodal bilinguals are bilinguals fluent in a signed and a spoken language.  Our research in this area, conducted in collaboration with Drs. Karen Emmorey and Tamar Gollan, centers on investigating how bilingualism is shaped by language modality. 

  • Pyers, J., Gollan, T., & Emmorey, K. (2009). Bimodal bilinguals reveal the source of tip of the tongue states. Cognition, 112, 323-329.
  • Emmorey, K., Luk, G., Pyers, J., & Bialystok, E. (2008). The source of cognitive control in bilinguals: Evidence from bimodal bilinguals. Psychological Science, 19, 1201-1206.
  • Pyers, J., & Emmorey, K. (2008). The face of bimodal bilingualism: Bilinguals produce ASL grammar while speaking English. Psychological Science, 19, 531-536.

 

Theory of Mind Development

Theory of mind is the understanding that others have internal states--intentions, desires, emotions and beliefs.  I investigate the role of language in children’s developing understanding of theory of mind, and I have shown a strong deterministic relationship between language and theory of mind that is specific to later developing components of theory of mind.

  • Gagne, D., Goico, S., Pyers, J., & Coppola, M. (2019). False belief understanding requires language experience, but its precursor abilities do not. In M. Brown and B. Dailey (Eds.) Proceedings of the 43rd Annual Boston University Conference on Language Development. Somerville, MA: Cascadilla Press. 
  • Shield, A., Pyers, J., Martin, A., & Tager‐Flusberg, H. (2016). Relations between language and cognition in native‐signing children with autism spectrum disorder. Autism Research, 9(12), 1304-1315.
  • *Schmidt, E., & Pyers, J.E. (2014). First-hand sensory experience plays a limited role in children's early understanding of seeing and hearing as sources of knowledge: Evidence from typically hearing and deaf children. British Journal of Developmental Psychology, 32, 454-467.
  • Pyers, J. & deVilliers, P. (2013). Theory of mind in deaf children: Illuminating the relative roles of language and executive functioning in the development of social cognition, in S. Baron-Cohen, H. Tager-Flusberg, & M. Lombardo (Eds.) Understanding other Minds, 3rd Edition. Oxford University Press (345-363).
  • Pyers, J., & Senghas, A. (2009). Language promotes false-belief understanding: Evidence from Nicaraguan Sign Language. Psychological Science, 20, 805-812.
  • Pyers, J. (2006). Constructing the social mind: Language and false-belief understanding. In S. Levinson & N. Enfield (Eds,). The roots of human sociality (207-228). New York: Oxford.
  • de Villiers, J., & Pyers, J. (2002). Complements to cognition: A longitudinal study of the relationship between complex syntax and false-belief understanding.  Cognitive Development, 17, 1037-1060.
  • de Villiers, P. A., & Pyers, J. (2001). Complementation and false-belief representation. In M. Almgren, et al. (Eds.), Research on child language acquisition (984-1005). Somerville, MA: Cascadilla Press.
  • Gale, E., de Villiers, P., de Villiers, J., & Pyers, J. (1996). Language and theory of mind in oral deaf children. In A. Stringfellow, D. Cahana-Amitay, E. Hughes, & A. Zukowski (Eds.), Proceedings of the 20th annual Boston University conference on language development, Volume 1. (213-224). Somerville, MA: Cascadilla Press.

 

Spatial Language and Spatial Cognition

The acquisition and use of a sign language seems to offer some enhancements in signers’ spatial abilities. I investigate how different language acquisition (e.g., delayed) profiles shape spatial abilities and I also investigate how spatial language in sign languages present unique challenges for language users. 

  • Pyers, J., Perniss, P., & Emmorey, K. (2015).  Viewpoint in the visual-spatial modality: The coordination of spatial perspective. Spatial Cognition and Computation. 15, 143-169.
  • Martin, A., Senghas, A., Pyers, J. (2013). Age of acquisition effects on mental rotation: Evidence from Nicaraguan Sign Language. In Proceedings of the 37th Boston University Conference on Language Development. Somerville, MA: Cascadilla Press.
  • Pyers, J., Shusterman, A., Senghas, A., Spelke, E., & Emmorey, K. (2010). Evidence from an emerging sign language reveals that language supports spatial cognition. Proceedings of the National Academy of Science, 107, 12116–12120.

 

Iconicity in Language and Gesture

Arbitrariness has long been viewed as a hallmark of language; yet in recent years we’ve come to see a greater level of iconicity present in language than previously known.  Iconicity is prevalent in signed languages and gesture, and in this line of work I investigate the degree to which children leverage iconicity to learn new words and how their ability to access iconicity changes as they develop. 

  • Caselli, N., & Pyers, J. (2019). Degree and not type of iconicity affects sign language vocabulary acquisition.  Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory, and Cognition.
  • Caselli, N., & Pyers, J. (2017). The road to language learning is not entirely iconic: Iconicity, neighborhood density, and frequency facilitate sign language acquisition, Psychological Science, 7, 979-987.
  • *Magid, R., & Pyers, J. (2017). "I use it when I see it": The role of development and experience in Deaf and hearing children's understanding of iconic gesture, Cognition, 162, 73-86.