Language and Cognition
Our research has revealed that the habitual use of a visual-spatial language such as ASL has an impact on nonlingustic aspects of visual-spatial cognition. The effects appear to be due to linguistic experience, rather than to deafness, because hearing people who learned ASL as their first language from their Deaf parents exhibit the same patterns of performance as Deaf ASL signers. Sign language experience appears to enhance or alter performance within certain cognitive domains, while leaving other domains unaffected, as outlined below:
