Naja Ferjan Ramírez

Assistant Professor

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Bio

Dr. Naja Ferjan Ramírez is an Assistant Professor in Linguistics at the University of Washington and holds the Distinguished Professorship in Language Acquisition and Multilingualism Endowment. She earned her Bachelor's degree in Neuroscience from Brown University and her Ph.D. in Linguistics and Cognitive Science from the University of California, San Diego. She completed her post-doctoral training at I-LABS. Naja is the director of the Language Development and Processing (LDP) Laboratory at UW Linguistics. Her research focuses on understanding the extent and origins of variability in linguistic development among young children of diverse backgrounds. She uses multiple methodologies, including naturalistic recordings in children's homes and early education centers, magnetoencephalography (MEG), and behavioral language measures in the laboratory.

Publications

Ferjan Ramírez, N., Lytle, S., & Kuhl, P. K. 2020. Parent Coaching Increases Conversational Turns and Advances Infant Language Development. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1921653117

Ferjan Ramírez, N., & Kuhl, P. K. (2020). Early Second Language Through SparkLingTM: Scaling-Up a Language Intervention in Infant Education Centers. Mind, Brain, and Education. https://doi.org/10.1111/mbe.12232

Ferjan Ramirez, N. & Kuhl, P.K. (2020) Second Language Learning in Early Childhood: Creating a Language Intervention for Infant Education Centers in Madrid. Proceedings of the 44th Boston University Conference on Language Development. Boston: Cascadilla Press.

Kuhl, P. K., & Ferjan Ramírez, N. (2019). Neuroscience and education: How early brain development affects school. In P. K. Khul, S-S. Lim, S. Guerriero & D. Van Damme (Eds.), Learning in the Digital Age: Towards a Science of Learning for 21st Century Education (pp. 25-36). Paris, France: Education Research and Innovation, OECD Publishing.

Ferjan Ramírez, N., Lytle, S., Fish, M., Kuhl, P. K. (2018). Parent coaching at 6 and 10 months improves language outcomes at 14 months: A randomized controlled trial. Developmental Science, e12762. https://doi.org/10.1111/desc.12762

Ferjan Ramírez, N., & Kuhl, P. K. (2017). Bilingual Baby: Foreign Language Intervention in Madrid's Infant Education Centers. Mind, Brain, and Education, 11(3), 133-43.

Ferjan Ramírez, N., & Kuhl, P. K. (2017). The brain science of bilingualism. Young Children, 72, 38-44.

Ferjan Ramírez, N., Ramírez, R.R., Clarke, M., Taulu, S., & Kuhl, P. K. (2016). Speech discrimination in 11-month-old bilingual and monolingual infants: A magnetoencephalography study. Developmental Science, e12427. https://doi.org/10.1111/desc.12427

Ferjan Ramírez, N., Kuhl, P. K. (2016). Bilingual Language Learning in Children. Summary presented at the White House Regional Summit on Dual Language Learners. Miami, FL, June 2, 2016.

Ferjan Ramírez, N., Leonard, M. K., Davenport, T., Torres, C., Mayberry, R. I., & Halgren, E. (2014). Neural language processing in adolescent first-language learners: Longitudinal case studies in American Sign Language. Cerebral Cortex. http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/25410427

Ferjan Ramírez, N., Lieberman, A., Mayberry, R. I. (2013). The initial stages of first-language acquisition begun in adolescence: When late looks early. Journal of Child Language, 40(2), 391-414.

Ferjan Ramírez, N., Leonard, M. K., Halgren, E., Mayberry, R. I. The neural correlates of childhood linguistic isolation. (2013). In S. Baiz, N. Goldman, & R. Hawkes (Eds.), Proceedings of the 37th Boston University Conference on Language Development. Boston, MA: Cascadilla Press.

Ferjan Ramírez, N., Leonard, M. K., Torres, C., Hatrak, M., Halgren, E., Mayberry, R. I. (2013). Neural language processing in adolescent first-language learners. Cerebral Cortex. https://doi.org/10.1093/cercor/bht137

Leonard, M. K., Ferjan Ramírez, N., Torres, C., Hatrak, M., Mayberry, R. I., & Halgren, E. (2013). Neural stages of spoken, written, and signed word processing in second language learners. Frontiers of Human Neuroscience. https://doi.org/10.3389/fnhum.2013.00322

Leonard, M. K., Ferjan Ramírez, N., Torres, C., Travis, K., Hatrak, M., Mayberry, R. I., & Halgren, E. (2012). Signed Words in the Congenitally Deaf Evoke Typical Late Lexicosemantic Responses with No Early Visual Responses in Left Superior Temporal Cortex. Journal of Neuroscience, 32(28), 9700-9705.

Ferjan Ramírez, N., Lieberman, A., & Mayberry, R. I. (2011). The first words acquired by adolescent first-language learners: When late looks early. In N. Dannis, K. Mesh, & H. Sung (Eds.), Proceedings of the 35th Boston University Conference on Language Development. Boston: Cascadilla Press.