Ezgi Mamus Defended Her PhD Thesis

Thesis Title: Perceptual experience shapes how blind and sighted people express concepts in multimodal language

In her research, Ezgi explores how we experience the world through different senses: we see, hear, smell, touch, and taste things. Each of these senses offers unique information but also certain limitations. Together, these sensory experiences collectively determine how we understand objects and events, and thus concepts. For example, while a car passes by, we observe that it is a fast-moving sports car and also hear the whooshing noise the car makes. The visual and auditory cues together inform us about the speed of the car. However, what happens when one of these cues is absent, as in the experience of individuals who are blind from birth? Does this affect the way individuals describe this event? When we communicate about our experiences, we use different communicational means, such as words, hand gestures, and facial expressions. As with simple sensory experiences, each communication means has its own benefits and restrictions. For example, gesture can provide precise information of how an object moves whereas speech may not have the correct word in its vocabulary. In the current thesis, Ezgi investigates to what extent perceptual experience influences multimodal language use in speech and gesture as well as the underlying conceptual knowledge that gives rise to these visible behaviors.

To watch the defense session, click on the YouTube Link.