Karen Denise Emmorey is a linguist and cognitive neuroscientist known for her research on the neuroscience of sign language and what sign languages reveal about the brain and human languages more generally. Her work has deepened the understanding of language universals and how properties of language vary across auditory-vocal or visual-manual modalities. Emmorey holds the position of Distinguished Professor in the School of Speech, Language, and Hearing Sciences at San Diego State University, where she directs the Laboratory for Language and Cognitive Neuroscience and the Center for Clinical and Cognitive Neuroscience. She is the author and editor of several books and numerous articles in psychology, linguistics, neuroscience and related fields.