• Ph.D., Experimental Psychology - University of Connecticut, Storrs

Dr. Dragana Barac-Cikoja is a Research Scientist at the Gallaudet Research Institute. She holds a Ph.D. in Experimental Psychology from the University of Connecticut, Storrs. She has worked as a researcher and university instructor at the University of Belgrade, University of Connecticut in Storrs, University of Split at Zadar, Wesleyan University, and National Institute on Deafness and Other Communication Disorders-National Institutes of Health (NICD-NIH). She has served as a principal investigator on several government-funded research projects.

Dr. Barac-Cikoja conducts experimental research aimed at understanding basic mechanisms in perception and language processing. Her investigations of haptic space perception have application in the area of robotics and navigation by blind individuals. Her ongoing investigations of sensory feedback during speech and sign articulation may provide new insights into the regulation of language production and contribute to the development of assistive technologies beneficial to individuals with disabilities. As a VL2-Affiliate researcher, Dr. Barac-Cikoja is investigating the role of morphology in improving deaf readers’ ability to recognize printed words, a skill crucial to effective reading comprehension.

• research studies
• sensory processing in language comprehension and production
• self-monitoring in speech and sign production
• psycholinguistics
• experimental design and statistics