Effects of iconicity and semantic relatedness on lexical access in american sign language.

Iconicity is a property that pervades the lexicon of many sign languages, including American Sign Language (ASL). Iconic signs exhibit a motivated, nonarbitrary mapping between the form of the sign and its meaning. We investigated whether iconicity enhances semantic priming effects for ASL and whether iconic signs are recognized more quickly than noniconic signs are (controlling for strength of iconicity, semantic relatedness, familiarity, and imageability). Twenty deaf signers made lexical decisions to the 2nd item of a prime–target pair. Iconic target signs were preceded by prime signs that were (a) iconic and semantically related, (b) noniconic and semantically related, or (c) semantically unrelated. In addition, a set of noniconic target signs was preceded by semantically unrelated primes. Significant facilitation was observed for target signs when they were preceded by semantically related primes. However, iconicity did not increase the priming effect (e.g., the target sign PIANO was primed equally by the iconic sign GUITAR and the noniconic sign MUSIC). In addition, iconic signs were not recognized faster or more accurately than were noniconic signs. These results confirm the existence of semantic priming for sign language and suggest that iconicity does not play a robust role in online lexical processing. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The link between form and meaning in British Sign Language: Effects of iconicity for phonological decisions.

Signed languages exploit the visual/gestural modality to create iconic expression across a wide range of basic conceptual structures in which the phonetic resources of the language are built up into an analogue of a mental image (Taub, 2001). Previously, we demonstrated a processing advantage when iconic properties of signs were made salient in a corresponding picture during a picture and sign matching task (Thompson, Vinson, & Vigliocco, 2009). The current study investigates the extent of iconicity effects with a phonological decision task (does the sign involve straight or curved fingers?) in which the meaning of the sign is irrelevant. The results show that iconicity is a significant predictor of response latencies and accuracy, with more iconic signs leading to slower responses and more errors. We conclude that meaning is activated automatically for highly iconic properties of a sign, and this leads to interference in making form-based decisions. Thus, the current study extends previous work by demonstrating that iconicity effects permeate the entire language system, arising automatically even when access to meaning is not needed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Bilingualism, Language Proficiency, and Learning to Read in Two Writing Systems.

Two hundred and four 5- and 6-year-olds who were monolingual English-, bilingual English-Chinese-, or Chinese-speaking children beginning to learn English (2nd-language learners) were compared on phonological awareness and word decoding tasks in English and Chinese. Phonological awareness developed in response to language exposure and instruction but, once established, transferred across languages for both bilinguals and 2nd-language learners. In contrast, decoding ability developed separately for each language as a function of proficiency and instruction in that language and did not transfer to the other language. Therefore, there was no overall effect of bilingualism on learning to read: Performance depended on the structure of the language, proficiency in that language, and instructional experiences with that writing system. These results point to the importance of evaluating the features of the languages and instructional context in which children become biliterate. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Language access and theory of mind reasoning: Evidence from deaf children in bilingual and oralist environments.

This investigation examined whether access to sign language as a medium for instruction influences theory of mind (ToM) reasoning in deaf children with similar home language environments. Experiment 1 involved 97 deaf Italian children ages 4-12 years: 56 were from deaf families and had LIS (Italian Sign Language) as their native language, and 41 had acquired LIS as late signers following contact with signers outside their hearing families. Children receiving bimodal/bilingual instruction in LIS together with Sign-Supported and spoken Italian significantly outperformed children in oralist schools in which communication was in Italian and often relied on lipreading. Experiment 2 involved 61 deaf children in Estonia and Sweden ages 6-16 years. On a wide variety of ToM tasks, bilingually instructed native signers in Estonian Sign Language and spoken Estonian succeeded at a level similar to age-matched hearing children. They outperformed bilingually instructed late signers and native signers attending oralist schools. Particularly for native signers, access to sign language in a bilingual environment may facilitate conversational exchanges that promote the expression of ToM by enabling children to monitor others' mental states effectively. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Children discover the spectral skeletons in their native language before the amplitude envelopes.

Much of speech perception research has focused on brief spectro-temporal properties in the signal, but some studies have shown that adults can recover linguistic form when those properties are absent. In this experiment, 7-year-old English-speaking children demonstrated adultlike abilities to understand speech when only sine waves (SWs) replicating the 3 lowest resonances of the vocal tract were presented, but they failed to demonstrate comparable abilities when noise bands amplitude-modulated with envelopes derived from the same signals were presented. In contrast, adults who were not native English speakers but who were competent 2nd-language learners were worse at understanding both kinds of stimuli than native English-speaking adults. Results showed that children learn to extract linguistic form from signals that preserve some spectral structure, even if degraded, before they learn to do so for signals that preserve only amplitude structure. The authors hypothesize that children’s early sensitivity to global spectral structure reflects the role that it may play in language learning. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Visual memory for shapes in deaf signers and nonsigners and in hearing signers and nonsigners: Atypical lateralization and enhancement.

[Correction Notice: An erratum for this article was reported in Vol 21(3) of Neuropsychology (see record 2007-06185-013). Figure 1 on p. 117 (Stimulus Materials section) depicting sample and match stimuli was incorrect. The labels Object condition and Shape condition should be reversed so that the top row is indicated as the shape condition and the bottom row as the object condition.] Deaf and hearing individuals who either used sign language (signers) or not (nonsigners) were tested on visual memory for objects and shapes that were difficult to describe verbally with a same/different matching paradigm. The use of 4 groups was designed to permit a separation of effects related to sign language use (signers vs. nonsigners) and effects related to auditory deprivation (deaf vs. hearing). Forty deaf native signers and nonsigners and 51 hearing signers and nonsigners participated in the study. Signing individuals (both deaf and hearing) were more accurate than nonsigning individuals (deaf and hearing) at memorizing shapes. For the shape memory task but not the object task, deaf signers and nonsigners displayed right hemisphere (RH) advantage over the left hemisphere (LH). Conversely, both hearing groups displayed a memory advantage for shapes in the LH over the RH. Results indicate that enhanced memory performance for shapes in signers (deaf and hearing) stems from the visual skills acquired through sign language use and that deafness, irrespective of language background, leads to the use of a visually based strategy for memory of difficult-to-describe items. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

"Visual Memory for Shapes in Deaf Signers and Nonsigners and in Hearing Signers and Nonsigners: Atypical Lateralization and Enhancement": Correction.

Reports an error in "Visual Memory for Shapes in Deaf Signers and Nonsigners and in Hearing Signers and Nonsigners: Atypical Lateralization and Enhancement" by Allegra Cattani, John Clibbens and Timothy J. Perfect (Neuropsychology, 2007[Jan], Vol 21[1], 114-121). Figure 1 on p. 117 (Stimulus Materials section) depicting sample and match stimuli was incorrect. The labels Object condition and Shape condition should be reversed so that the top row is indicated as the shape condition and the bottom row as the object condition. (The following abstract of the original article appeared in record 2006-23022-010.) Deaf and hearing individuals who either used sign language (signers) or not (nonsigners) were tested on visual memory for objects and shapes that were difficult to describe verbally with a same/different matching paradigm. The use of 4 groups was designed to permit a separation of effects related to sign language use (signers vs. nonsigners) and effects related to auditory deprivation (deaf vs. hearing). Forty deaf native signers and nonsigners and 51 hearing signers and nonsigners participated in the study. Signing individuals (both deaf and hearing) were more accurate than nonsigning individuals (deaf and hearing) at memorizing shapes. For the shape memory task but not the object task, deaf signers and nonsigners displayed right hemisphere (RH) advantage over the left hemisphere (LH). Conversely, both hearing groups displayed a memory advantage for shapes in the LH over the RH. Results indicate that enhanced memory performance for shapes in signers (deaf and hearing) stems from the visual skills acquired through sign language use and that deafness, irrespective of language background, leads to the use of a visually based strategy for memory of difficult-to-describe items. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

中日手语手指语、词汇构成和句式表达的比较

通过对中日手语的界定,分析了两国手语在手指语、词汇构成、句式表达等方面的异同点,便于学习者理解和掌握中日手语的基本知识,对中日两国聋人之间的沟通和交流起到促进作用。     

Cognitive processing by prelingual deaf students as a function of language context.

Investigated the influence of language mode (print or sign) and syntax (English or American Sign Language [ASL]) on recall, preference, and comprehension. In Exp I, the effects of reading meaningful print passages in ASL or English were tested for 12 16–29 yr old deaf and 12 16–28 yr old hearing Ss. An effort toward comprehension interpretation was supported for the hearing Ss only. Deaf Ss not trained in ASL exhibited a familiarity with ASL syntax not exhibited by the hearing Ss. In Exp II, meaningful passages were presented to 30 15–19 yr old prelingual deaf Ss in 4 language contexts (signed English, signed ASL, print English, and print ASL) in a free recall task. Results show greater recall from ASL than from English contexts. Findings indicate that the visual orientation of prelingual deaf individuals, regardless of training in ASL, leads to the development of a sign-based encoding system that responds to ASL as a familiar language. (30 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Are first- and second-language factors related in predicting second-language reading comprehension? A study of Spanish-speaking children acquiring English as a second language from first to second grade.

First-language (L1) and 2nd-language (L2) oral language skills and L2 word reading were used as predictors to test the simple view of reading as a model of 2nd-language reading comprehension. The simple view of reading states that reading comprehension is related to decoding and oral language comprehension skills. One hundred thirty-one Spanish-speaking English learners (ELs) were tested in 1st grade and many were followed into 2nd grade, including a full sample of 79. Structural equation modeling confirmed that a 5-factor measurement model had the best fit, suggesting that L1 and L2 phonological awareness should be viewed as separate but related constructs and that L1 and L2 oral language proficiency, measured by vocabulary and grammatical awareness, were separate constructs. The structural model indicated that for this group of ELs, who were educated in English, English oral language proficiency and word reading were the strongest predictors of English reading comprehension. Other models that deleted 1 of these crucial components resulted in significantly poorer fit. Therefore, the results support the validity of the simple view of reading as a model for the development of reading comprehension in young ELs. Implications for theory and practice, specifically assessment of ELs, are discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Second-language acquisition and bilingualism: Research in Canada (1970–1980).

Reviews research on 2nd-language acquisition and bilingualism conducted in Canada during the 1970's. Research concerned with the learning of a 2nd language has emphasized 3 topics: approaches to language instruction, individual differences and language acquisition, and effects of 2nd-language acquisition on individual characteristics. The research concerned with bilingualism tends to emphasize perceptual processes, the representation of experience, the consequences of bilingualism, and bilingualism in interpersonal communication. It is concluded that the Canadian social setting provides a natural laboratory for research on 2nd-language acquisition and bilingualism. (French abstract) (3? p ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Voice onset time in speech produced by inexperienced signers during simultaneous communication

This study investigated sentence duration and voice onset time (VOT) of plosive consonants in words produced during simultaneous communication (SC) by inexperienced signers. Stimulus words embedded in a sentence were produced with speech only and produced with SC by 12 inexperienced sign language users during the first and last weeks of an introductory sign language course. Results indicated significant differences between the speech and SC conditions in sentence duration and VOT of initial plosives at both the beginning and the end of the class. Voiced/voiceless VOT contrasts were enhanced in SC but followed English voicing rules and varied appropriately with place of articulation. These results are consistent with previous findings regarding the influence of rate changes on the temporal fine structure of speech (Miller, 1987) and were similar to the voicing contrast results reported for clear speech by Picheny, Durlach, and Braida (1986) and for experienced signers using SC by Schiavetti, Whitehead, Metz, Whitehead, and Mignerey (1996).     

Early mathematics achievement trajectories: English-language learner and native English-speaker estimates, using the Early Childhood Longitudinal Survey.

This study used data from the Early Childhood Longitudinal Survey, Kindergarten Class of 1998–1999, to (a) estimate mathematics achievement trends through 5th grade in the population of students who are English-language proficient by the end of kindergarten, (b) compare trends across primary language groups within this English-language proficient group, (c) evaluate the effect of low socioeconomic status (SES) for English-language proficient students and within different primary language groups, and (d) estimate language-group trends in specific mathematics skill areas. The group of English-language proficient English-language learners (ELLs) was disaggregated into native Spanish speakers and native speakers of Asian languages, the 2 most prevalent groups of ELLs in the United States. Results of multilevel latent variable growth modeling suggest that primary language may be less salient than SES in explaining the mathematics achievement of English-language proficient ELLs. The study also found that mathematics-related school readiness is a key factor in explaining subsequent achievement differences and that the readiness gap is prevalent across the range of mathematics-related skills. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2011 APA, all rights reserved)     

Second-language learning in children.

Examines a number of commonly held beliefs about 2nd-language learning. Studies of simultaneous and successive acquisition of a 2nd language in children are reviewed, and the evidence for these beliefs is critically evaluated. It remains to be proven that (a) there is a biologically based critical period for language acquisition, such that young children learn a language more quickly and easily than adults; (b) 2nd-language learning involves different processes than does 1st-language learning; (c) interference is an inevitable consequence of bilingualism; or (d) bilingualism has negative (or positive) consequences on intelligence, educational attainment, or cognitive functioning. (4 p ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

A vocabulary test for chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes).

Presented a vocabulary test to 4 cross-fostered chimpanzees (4–6 years old) who had learned some American Sign Language (ASL) in the laboratory. 35 mm color slides were projected on a screen that could be seen by the chimpanzee Ss but not by the human observers. There were 2 observers: 01 was the questioner in the testing room with the Ss; 02 was in a different room. Neither observer could see the other, or the responses of the other observer. 01 and 02 agreed in their readings of both correct and incorrect signs, and most of the signs were the correct ASL names of the slides. To show that the chimpanzees were naming natural language categories—that the sign DOG could refer to any dog, FLOWER to any flower, SHOE to any shoe—each test trial was a 1st trial, in that test slides were presented only once. Analysis of errors showed that 2 aspects of the signs, gestural form and conceptual category, governed the distribution of errors. (64 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Reading achievement across three language groups: Growth estimates for overall reading and reading subskills obtained with the Early Childhood Longitudinal Survey.

This study estimated normative reading trajectories for the population of English-proficient language minority students attending U.S. public elementary schools. Achievement of English-language learners (ELLs) was evaluated in terms of native English speakers' progress, and estimates were adjusted for the effects of socioeconomic status (SES). The ELL group was disaggregated into native Spanish speakers and native speakers of Asian languages. Multilevel latent variable growth modeling indicated that achievement trends of Asian-language ELLs are more similar to those of native English speakers than to those of Spanish ELL groups. Spanish ELLs had lower initial reading achievement than both Asian-language ELLs and native English speakers, and Asian students had higher initial achievement than did the native English speaking group. Additionally, Spanish ELLs had statistically significantly less growth over time than did Asian ELLs, with differences being most notable on reading evaluation–related tasks. Language-related differences in total reading were minimized when SES effects were specifically modeled, suggesting that SES may be the more significant factor explaining the lower achievement rates of English-proficient native Spanish speakers. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Slips of the tongue, sleights of the hand: Observations on psychotherapy in sign language.

Clinical material from psychoanalytic psychotherapy conducted with deaf individuals in sign language is used to explore psychoanalytic constructs such as slips of the tongue, conflict, affective experience, and the therapeutic function of empathy. The author proposes that communication in sign language, a multidimensional, visual-gestural language, may afford unique opportunities to see aspects of psychological functioning in process in a way not possible through spoken languages. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Additional evidence that the K-ras protooncogene is a candidate for the major mouse pulmonary adenoma susceptibility (Pas-1) gene

The memory of 11 deaf and 11 hearing British Sign Language users and 11 hearing nonsigners for pictures of faces of and verbalizable objects was measured using the game Concentration. The three groups performed at the same level for the objects. In contrast the deaf signers were better for faces than the hearing signers, who in turn were superior to the hearing nonsigners, who were the worst. Three hypotheses were made: That there would be no significant difference in terms of the number of attempts between the three groups on the verbalizable object task, that the hearing and deaf signers would demonstrate superior performance to that of the hearing nonsigners on the matching faces task, and that the hearing and deaf signers would exhibit similar performance levels on the matching faces task. The first two hypotheses were supported, but the third was not. Deaf signers were found to be superior for memory for faces to hearing signers and hearing nonsigners. Possible explanations for the findings are discussed, including the possibility that deafness and the long use of sign language have additive effects.     

Ordinal knowledge: Number names and number concepts in Chinese and English.

Assessed the impact of linguistic differences in ordinal number names on children's acquisition and use of ordinal numbers and their understanding of ordinal concepts. Elementary school children (aged 5.4–10.6 yrs) in China and the US performed a series of tasks assessing understanding of ordinal numbers and concepts. The results show differences in the acquisition and use of ordinal numbers corresponding to linguistic differences in ordinal names in their native languages. On tasks assessing children's conceptual knowledge of ordinal relations, a more complicated picture emerged. These results suggest that (1) children induce their language's set of ordinal number names by generalization based on rules sanctioned by early examples, and (2) the relation between ordinal names and ordinal concepts is a complex one, with language only one source of difficulty in understanding ordinal relations. Implications for studies of the relation between linguistic structure and cognitive development are discussed, in particular the possibility that effects of linguistic differences may vary for different levels of development and for different aspects of cognition. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)