Laura-Ann Petitto

Laura-Ann Petitto
Born
New York City, New York, United States
EducationRamapo College, New York University, Harvard University
AwardsGuggenheim Fellowship (1998)
Scientific career
InstitutionsHarvard University, McGill University, Dartmouth College, University of Toronto, Gallaudet University

Laura-Ann Petitto (born c. 1954) is a cognitive neuroscientist and a developmental cognitive neuroscientist known for her research and scientific discoveries involving the language capacity of chimpanzees,[1][2][3][4][5] the biological bases of language in humans, especially early language acquisition (be it language on the hands in signed languages or on the tongue in spoken languages),[6][7][8] early reading,[9][10] and bilingualism, bilingual reading, and the bilingual brain.[11][12][13][14][15] Significant scientific discoveries include the existence of linguistic babbling on the hands of deaf babies (“manual babbling”)[16][17][18] and the equivalent neural processing of signed and spoken languages in the human brain.[19][20] She is recognized for her contributions to the creation of the new scientific discipline, called educational neuroscience.[21][22] Petitto chaired a new undergraduate department at Dartmouth College, called "Educational Neuroscience and Human Development" (2002-2007), and was a Co-Principal Investigator in the National Science Foundation and Dartmouth's Science of Learning Center, called the "Center for Cognitive and Educational Neuroscience" (2004-2007).[23] At Gallaudet University (2011–present), Petitto led a team in the creation of the first PhD in Educational Neuroscience program in the United States.[24] Petitto is the Co-Principal Investigator as well as Science Director of the National Science Foundation and Gallaudet University’s Science of Learning Center, called the "Visual Language and Visual Learning Center (VL2)".[25] Petitto is also founder and Scientific Director of the Brain and Language Laboratory for Neuroimaging (“BL2”) at Gallaudet University.[26][27][28]

  1. ^ Petitto, L.A., "Nim Chimpsky: A Life That was Rich Beyond Words". The Washington Post, Saturday March 18, 2000.
  2. ^ Seidenberg, M. S., & Petitto, L. A. (1987). Communication, symbolic communication, and language in child and chimpanzee: Comment on Savage-Rumbaugh, McDonald, Sevcik, Hopkins, and Rupert (1986). Journal of Experimental Psychology, General, 116(3), 279-287.
  3. ^ Terrace, H.S., Petitto, L.A., Sanders, R.J., & Bever, T.G. (1979). Can an ape create a sentence? Science, 206, 891-902.
  4. ^ Petitto, L.A., & Seidenberg, M.S. (1979). On the evidence for linguistic abilities in signing apes. Brain and Language, 8, 72-88.
  5. ^ Seidenberg, M.S., & Petitto, L.A. (1979). Signing behavior in apes: A critical review. Cognition, 7, 177-215.
  6. ^ Petitto, L.A. (2005). How the brain begets language: On the neural tissue underlying human language acquisition. Chapter in J. McGilvray (Ed.), The Cambridge Companion to Chomsky. England: Cambridge University Press, pp 84-101.
  7. ^ Petitto, L.A. (1997). In the beginning: On the genetic and environmental factors that make early language acquisition possible. In M. Gopnik (Ed.), The inheritance and innateness of grammars (pp. 45-69). England: Oxford University Press.
  8. ^ Petitto, L.A. (1988). "Language" in the pre-linguistic child. In F. Kessel (Ed.), Development of language and language researchers: Essays in honor of Roger Brown (pp. 187-221). Hillsdale, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum.
  9. ^ Jasinska, K.K., Berens, M., Kovelman, I., & Petitto, L.A. (2016). Bilingualism yields language-specific plasticity in left hemisphere’s circuitry for learning to read in young children. Neuropsychologia. DOI: 10.1016/j.neuropsychologia.2016.11.018
  10. ^ Jasińska, K. & Petitto, L.A. (2014). Development of Neural Systems for Reading in the Monolingual and Bilingual Brain: New Insights from functional Near Infrared
  11. ^ Petitto, L.A., Katerelos, M., Levy, B., Gauna, K., Tétrault, K., & Ferraro, V. (2001). Bilingual sign and oral language acquisition from birth: Implications for mechanisms underlying early bilingual language acquisition. Journal of Child Language, 28(2), 453-496.
  12. ^ Kovelman, I., Baker, S.A., & Petitto, L. A. (2008). Bilingual and Monolingual brains compared: An fMRI investigation of syntactic processing and a possible "neural signature" of bilingualism. Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience, 20(1), 153-169.
  13. ^ Petitto, L.A., & Kovelman, I. (2003). The Bilingual Paradox: How signing-speaking bilingual children help us to resolve bilingual issues and teach us about the brain's mechanisms underlying all language acquisition. Learning Languages, 8(3), 5-18. Translation into French (2004). Le paradoxe du bilinguisme, Double langue maternelle. In Revue Imaginaire et Inconscient, 14.
  14. ^ Kovelman, I., Baker, S.A., & Petitto, L.A. (2008). Age of first bilingual language exposure as a new window into bilingual reading development. Bilingualism: Language and Cognition, 11(2), 203-223.
  15. ^ Kovelman, I., Shalinsky, M.H., Berens, M.S., & Petitto, L.A. (2008). Shining light on the brain's "Bilingual Signature": a functional Near Infrared Spectroscopy investigation of semantic processing. NeuroImage, 39(1), 1457-1471.
  16. ^ Cite error: The named reference r1022 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  17. ^ Cite error: The named reference r1036 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  18. ^ Cite error: The named reference r1038 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  19. ^ Petitto, L. A., Zatorre, R., Gauna, K., Nikelski, E.J., Dostie, D., & Evans, A. (2000). Speech-like cerebral activity in profoundly deaf people processing signed languages: Implications for the neural basis of human language. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 97(25), 13961-13966.
  20. ^ Penhune, V., Cismaru, R., Dorsaint-Pierre, R., Petitto, L.A., & Zatorre, R. (2003). The morphometry of auditory cortex in the congenitally deaf measured using MRI. NeuroImage, 20, 1215-1225.
  21. ^ Petitto, L. A. (2009). New Discoveries from the Bilingual Brain and Mind Across the Lifespan: Implications for Education. International Journal of Mind, Brain and Education, 3(4), 185-197.
  22. ^ L.A., & Dunbar, K.N. (2004). "New findings from Educational Neuroscience on Bilingual Brains, Scientific Brains, and the Educated Mind." Monograph, Department of Educational Neuroscience and Human Development, Dartmouth College, Hanover, N.H. @ http://petitto.net/home/about-dr-laura-ann-pettito/educational-neuroscience/
  23. ^ "Educational Neuroscience".
  24. ^ "PhD in Educational Neuroscience".
  25. ^ "VL2 :: Home".
  26. ^ Petitto Lab Homepage: http://petitto.net
  27. ^ "Dr. Laura Ann Petitto". Gallaudet University. Retrieved March 1, 2012.
  28. ^ "About Dr. Laura-Ann Petitto".