Studies have shown that iconicity can provide a benefit to non-signers during the learning of single signs, but other aspects of signed messages that might also be beneficial have received less attention. In particular, do other features of signed languages help support comprehension of a message during the process of language learning? The…

Many students in STEM experience decreased performance due to anxiety, namely math and science anxiety. However, spatial skills are correlated with better STEM outcomes. Our research addressed a previous gap in the literature, investigating if STEM anxiety or spatial experiences have a stronger relationship with STEM outcomes. In this online…

The comprehension of signed language requires linguistic and visual-spatial processing, such as perspective-taking for correctly interpreting the layout of a spatial scene. However, little is known about how adult second-language (L2) learners process visual-spatial constructions in a signed language that they are studying, including which angles…

Children learning language efficiently process single words and activate semantic, phonological, and other features of words during recognition. We investigated lexical recognition in deaf children acquiring American Sign Language (ASL) to determine how perceiving language in the visual-spatial modality affects lexical recognition. Twenty native…

As spatial languages, sign languages rely on spatial cognitive processes that are not involved for spoken languages. Interlocutors have different visual perspectives of the signer's hands requiring a mental transformation for successful communication about spatial scenes. It is unknown whether visual-spatial perspective-taking (VSPT) or mental…

In ASL spatial classifier expressions, the location of the hands in signing space depicts the relative position of described objects. When objects are physically present, the arrangement of the hands maps to the observed position of objects in the world (Shared Space). For non-present objects, interlocutors must perform a mental transformation to…

Experience with a visual-spatial language may influence certain cognitive processes (Keehner and Gathercole 2007). Spatial ability is an important cognitive skill (Linn and Petersen 1985). Some research has found that deaf signers outperform hearing nonsigners on certain spatial tasks (e.g., Emmorey, Kosslyn, and Bellugi 1993) and that hearing…

This article investigates the sequential recall of manual alphabet letters by signing deaf adolescents under two presentation conditions: fingerspelling and the listing and ordering technique (LOT) of American Sign Language. Fingerspelling presents each letter in a manner similar to the spelling of spoken words: A letter is produced and then is no…

In this dissertation, I examine the nature of object marking in American Sign Language (ASL). I investigate object marking by means of directionality (the movement of the verb towards a certain location in signing space) and by means of handling classifiers (certain handshapes accompanying the verb). I propose that object marking in ASL is…

A study was conducted to examine production variability in American Sign Language (ASL) in order to gain insight into the development of motor control in a language produced in another modality. Production variability was characterized through the spatiotemporal index (STI), which represents production stability in whole utterances and is a…

This article describes the case of a deaf native signer of American Sign Language (ASL) with a specific language impairment (SLI). School records documented normal cognitive development but atypical language development. Data include school records; interviews with the child, his mother, and school professionals; ASL and English evaluations; and a…

It is known that in American Sign Language (ASL) span is shorter than in English, but this discrepancy has never been systematically investigated using other pairs of signed and spoken languages. This finding is at odds with results showing that short-term memory (STM) for signs has an internal organization similar to STM for words. Moreover, some…

We examine the hemispheric organization for the production of two classes of ASL signs, lexical signs and classifier signs. Previous work has found strong left hemisphere dominance for the production of lexical signs, but several authors have speculated that classifier signs may involve the right hemisphere to a greater degree because they can…

Three mental rotation tasks, the Card Rotation Task (CRT), the Vandenberg Mental Rotation Test (VMRT), and the Money Road-Map of Direction Sense (MRM), were administered to 60 deaf students from Gallaudet University to determine if mental rotation was predictive of scores on the ACT English or Math subtests. Other predictor variables, such as…

Grounded blends may be literal or metaphorical, the latter allowing for an even richer variety of blend characteristics. This contribution of metaphor is achieved largely through the utilization of body partitioning. Body partitioning may result in: (1) the appearance of a single, coherent source-domain scene iconically represented; (2) a single…