My Research

Human communication employs different modalities: auditory and visual-spatial. Visual-spatial modality allows for iconic representations that can be found in sign languages and co-speech gestures. During my doctoral studies, I have investigated the relationship between language and cognition in the course of development with a specific focus on the following research questions: What is the role of modality difference in language use and language acquisition? How does age of language exposure modulate this difference? Does iconicity in language use and processing relate to different aspects of cognition? In order to answer these questions, I drew evidence from several populations such as child and adult speakers of Turkish and Dutch as well as signers of Turkish Sign Language and Sign Language of the Netherlands. In addition, I used various methodologies such as Linguistics Tasks that allow for gesture and sign analyses, Memory, Eye Tracking, and advanced statistical methods (e.g., Generalized Linear Models). My findings have shown that iconic representations differ from speech in the way they communicate information during the development and the final attainment of language acquisition. My research has also provided implications for whether and how these differences revealed themselves in online and offline indices of cognition. 

Please see my publications and presentations for more information.