Nice to meet you!

My name is Paris Gappmayr (she/her) and I am a postdoctoral research associate in the Speech, Language, and Hearing Sciences department at Purdue University. My research explores the intersection of modality and prior experience on language acquisition. 

I have previously attended Thompson Rivers University (AA, 2017), the University of British Columbia (BA, 2020), and Boston University (PhD, 2026). 

My PhD research focused on American Sign Language (ASL) acquisition and perception. My dissertation used eye-tracking technology to measure semantic prediction in ASL and identify factors that influence gaze patterns during sign language perception. I have also studied signing deaf children's visual attention to better understand how children manage their gaze when acquiring a sign language.

My postdoctoral research studies semantic networks in hearing children. I use feature networks to measure the semantic connections between words learned in the first 2-3 years of life

Please feel free to look around my website to see what other projects I am involved in, and contact me at pgappmay@purdue.edu if you have any questions.