Deanna Gagne

Deanna Gagne graduated with her PhD in Developmental Psychology from UConn in 2017. Previously, she graduated with a B.S. in ASL-English interpreting form Northeastern University in 2000, minoring in Psychology and Linguistics and received her M.A. in Developmental Psychology at the University of Connecticut in 2015. Her interests lie in the unique ways that sign languages and the individuals who use them can inform our knowledge of language and cognitive development. Her projects include investigations into the relationship between delayed, inconsistent or insufficient language exposure and cognitive abilities (such as story-telling, Theory of Mind, executive functioning, and number cognition), as well as the ways in which emerging sign languages can help us understand the emergence and evolution of all languages. Now a postdoctoral associate in the School of Education at Boston University working with Dr. Amy Lieberman, she continues exploring her interests by contributing to projects investigating the relationship between language acquisition and visual attention in deaf infants and children.