Cognitive Adaptations Arising from Non-Native Experience of Sign Language in Hearing Adults
Three experiments examined spatial transformation abilities in hearing people who acquired sign language in early adulthood. The non-native hearing signers were compared to hearing people with no knowledge of sign language, matched for age and gender. Using an adapted Corsi blocks paradigm, the expe...
| Main Authors: | , |
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| Format: | Journal Article |
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The Psychonomics Society
2006
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| Online Access: | http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11937/26074 |
| _version_ | 1848751882500046848 |
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| author | Keehner, Madeleine Gathercole, S. |
| author_facet | Keehner, Madeleine Gathercole, S. |
| author_sort | Keehner, Madeleine |
| building | Curtin Institutional Repository |
| collection | Online Access |
| description | Three experiments examined spatial transformation abilities in hearing people who acquired sign language in early adulthood. The non-native hearing signers were compared to hearing people with no knowledge of sign language, matched for age and gender. Using an adapted Corsi blocks paradigm, the experimental task simulated spatial relations in sign discourse but offered no opportunity for linguistic coding. Experiment 1 showed that the hearing signers performed significantly better than the nonsigners on a task that entailed 180 rotation, which is the canonical spatial relationship in sign discourse. Experiment 2 found that the signers did not show the typical costs associated with processing rotated stimuli, and Experiment 3 ruled out the possibility that their advantage relied on seen hand movements. We conclude that sign language experience, even when acquired in adulthood by hearing people, can give rise to adaptations in cognitive processes associated with the manipulation of visuospatial information. |
| first_indexed | 2025-11-14T07:59:47Z |
| format | Journal Article |
| id | curtin-20.500.11937-26074 |
| institution | Curtin University Malaysia |
| institution_category | Local University |
| last_indexed | 2025-11-14T07:59:47Z |
| publishDate | 2006 |
| publisher | The Psychonomics Society |
| recordtype | eprints |
| repository_type | Digital Repository |
| spelling | curtin-20.500.11937-260742017-09-13T15:25:35Z Cognitive Adaptations Arising from Non-Native Experience of Sign Language in Hearing Adults Keehner, Madeleine Gathercole, S. working memory spatial mental rotation sign language Three experiments examined spatial transformation abilities in hearing people who acquired sign language in early adulthood. The non-native hearing signers were compared to hearing people with no knowledge of sign language, matched for age and gender. Using an adapted Corsi blocks paradigm, the experimental task simulated spatial relations in sign discourse but offered no opportunity for linguistic coding. Experiment 1 showed that the hearing signers performed significantly better than the nonsigners on a task that entailed 180 rotation, which is the canonical spatial relationship in sign discourse. Experiment 2 found that the signers did not show the typical costs associated with processing rotated stimuli, and Experiment 3 ruled out the possibility that their advantage relied on seen hand movements. We conclude that sign language experience, even when acquired in adulthood by hearing people, can give rise to adaptations in cognitive processes associated with the manipulation of visuospatial information. 2006 Journal Article http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11937/26074 10.3758/BF03193312 The Psychonomics Society fulltext |
| spellingShingle | working memory spatial mental rotation sign language Keehner, Madeleine Gathercole, S. Cognitive Adaptations Arising from Non-Native Experience of Sign Language in Hearing Adults |
| title | Cognitive Adaptations Arising from Non-Native Experience of Sign Language in Hearing Adults |
| title_full | Cognitive Adaptations Arising from Non-Native Experience of Sign Language in Hearing Adults |
| title_fullStr | Cognitive Adaptations Arising from Non-Native Experience of Sign Language in Hearing Adults |
| title_full_unstemmed | Cognitive Adaptations Arising from Non-Native Experience of Sign Language in Hearing Adults |
| title_short | Cognitive Adaptations Arising from Non-Native Experience of Sign Language in Hearing Adults |
| title_sort | cognitive adaptations arising from non-native experience of sign language in hearing adults |
| topic | working memory spatial mental rotation sign language |
| url | http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11937/26074 |