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Research Project

The Body’s Role in Thinking, Performing, and Referencing

2013 – 2018

Key Question

Project Summary

This project studied the relations between action, gesture, and sign language to develop a more nuanced and theoretically informed understanding of embodied cognition.

Research Team

Sian L. Beilock

Sian L. Beilock

President of Barnard College

Columbia University

A cognitive scientist by training, Sian L. Beilock studies how performance anxiety can be exacerbated or alleviated, and the strategies we can use to ensure success under pressure. Her research sits at the intersection of cognitive science and education.

To learn more about Sian L....

Diane Brentari

Diane Brentari

Mary K. Werkman Professor, Department of Linguistics; Co-Director, Center for Gesture, Sign, and Language

University of Chicago

Diane Brentari's broad interests address issues in sign language grammars, particularly problems at the intersection of morphology, phonology, and prosody. Her work has primarily focused on sign language phonology as a way to understand the effects of communication mode (or modality) on...

Peter S. Cook

Peter S. Cook

Associate Professor and Chair, Department of ASL-English Interpretation; Deaf performing artist

Columbia College

Peter S. Cook is Associate Professor in the Department of ASL-English Interpretation at Columbia College Chicago and an internationally known Deaf performing artist whose work incorporates American Sign Language, pantomime, storytelling, acting, and movement. Since 1986, Cook has traveled...

Anastasia Giannakidou

Anastasia Giannakidou

Frank J. McLoraine Professor of Linguistics; Director, Center for Hellenic Studies; Co-Director, Center for Gesture, Sign, and Language; Faculty Fellow, Institute for the Formation of Knowledge

University of Chicago

Anastasia Giannakidou studied Classical Philology and Linguistics at the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki in Greece, and received her PhD in Linguistics from University of Groningen, the Netherlands. She is one of the founders and the director of the Hellenic Studies Center at the University...

Susan Goldin-Meadow

Susan Goldin-Meadow

Beardsley Ruml Distinguished Service Professor, Department of Psychology and Committee on Human Development

University of Chicago

Susan Goldin-Meadow's research interests include language development and creation and the role of
gesture in communicating, thinking, and learning. Her research has been funded by the National Science Foundation, the Spencer Foundation, the March of Dimes, the National Institute of Child...

Project Narrative

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