Kaja Jasińska

Dr. Jasińska is an Assistant Professor of Linguistics and Cognitive Science at the University of Delaware, a Research Scientist at Haskins Laboratories, and the Scientific Director of the Brain Organization for Language and Literacy Development (BOLD) Laboratory. Dr. Jasińska studies the neural mechanisms that support language, cognitive, and reading development across the lifespan using a combination of behavioral, genetic, and neuroimaging research methods. Her research aims to understand how early life experiences (e.g. language exposure) can change the brain’s capacity for language and learning, with focus on understanding development in environments with poverty-related risk (i.e. rural communities in Ivory Coast).

Dr. Jasińska will be leading a discussion called Beyond the Laboratory: Application of fNIRS Neuroimaging in Remote, Low-Resource Settings for Global Child Development Research. Portable neuroimaging approaches provide new advances to the study of brain function and brain development with previously inaccessible populations and in remote locations. Her and her team show how field functional Near Infrared Spectroscopy (fNIRS) imaging can be applied to the study of child cognitive development in a rural village setting of Côte d’Ivoire. Innovation in fNIRS methods and the development of culturally appropriate neuroimaging protocols can provide a first-time look into the brain’s development and children’s learning outcomes in understudied environments. In doing so, they not only make science more inclusive, they also generate a theoretical understanding of brain function that isn’t exclusively based on WEIRD populations.