Eye-gaze shift as a measure of sign language processing in young deaf children

描述（由申请人提供）：聋人代表了一个独特的语言群体，因为他们第一次接触语言时存在很大的差异。虽然人们已经确定，从幼年起无法获得语言的聋哑儿童在语言，识字和其他学术成果方面存在延迟的风险，但人们对聋人如何处理手语以及处理能力如何影响词汇和其他语言技能知之甚少。这一点尤其重要，因为90%以上的聋哑儿童出生于听力正常的父母，因此他们的早期语言环境是非常不典型的，经常是贫困的。这项研究将通过发展一种新的范式来研究手语处理。该范式是对“边看边听”（LWL）范式的改编，该范式已用于从婴儿到成人的听力受试者。LWL范式产生的时间过程的措施，儿童的反应在更高的时间分辨率比其他广泛使用的实验任务。孩子们看着成对的图片，同时听语音命名的图片之一，和凝视模式的录像和分析有关的并发语音信号。除了准确性的措施，LWL程序产生的速度，或反应时间（RT）的精确措施，其中受试者开始转移视线到目标图片相对于目标词的发病。尽管这一模式的有效性已经确立，而且在理解方面取得了重大进展，但迄今为止，还没有人试图评估手语处理方面的平行发展。在拟议的研究中，这种模式将适用于美国手语（ASL）。因此，代替音频语音信号，受试者将看到标记图片之一的带符号信号。然后，将使用注视移位来获得使用ASL的聋人的处理效率的措施。该项目的目标是获得聋人儿童和成人手语实时处理的数据，这是使用当前实验范式无法获得的一项措施。具体来说，这项研究的目的是：1）调查聋人和从出生起就接触语言（即来自聋人父母）的儿童对ASL的实时处理，包括典型的发展; 2）揭示成年人和儿童在后期获得ASL的处理中可能存在的差异（即，（3）确定加工效率与美国手语技能之间的关系。这种新的范式将开始填补一个关键的知识空白，即美国手语是如何处理的典型和非典型的语言学习者。了解手语是如何在这些人群中处理将揭示重要的见解关键期现象，视觉语言的处理，以及语言处理能力和词汇发展之间的关系。 公共卫生相关性：拟议的项目将研究聋人成人和儿童如何处理美国手语（ASL），以及有聋人父母并从出生时就暴露于ASL的人与有听力父母并在出生后暴露于ASL的人之间的语言处理是否存在差异。这项研究将对聋儿的早期识别和教育实践产生影响，并将有助于我们了解不同人群的语言理解，手语处理的关键期效应以及早期语言剥夺的潜在负面影响。)

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): Deaf individuals represent a unique linguistic population in that there is wide variation in when they are first exposed to language. Although it is well established that deaf children without access to language from an early age are at-risk for delays in language, literacy, and other academic outcomes, as yet there is very little known about how sign language is processed in deaf individuals, and how processing ability may affect vocabulary and other linguistic skills. This is particularly important in light of the fact that over 90% of deaf children are born to hearing parents, and thus their early linguistic environment is highly atypical and frequently impoverished. The proposed study will investigate sign language processing through development of a novel paradigm. The paradigm is an adaptation of the "looking-while-listening" (LWL) paradigm that has been used with hearing subjects from infants to adults. The LWL paradigm yields time- course measures of children's responses at higher temporal resolution than is common in other widely used experimental tasks. Children look at pairs of pictures while listening to speech naming one of the pictures, and gaze patterns are videotaped and analyzed in relation to the concurrent speech signal. In addition to measures of accuracy, the LWL procedure yields precise measures of the speed, or reaction time (RT) with which subjects initiate a shift in gaze to the target picture relative to the onset of the target word. Despite the established validity of this paradigm and significant gains in understanding it has provided, to date there has been no attempt to assess parallel developments in sign language processing. In the proposed study, this paradigm will be adapted for use with American Sign Language (ASL). Thus instead of an audio speech signal, subjects will see a signed signal labeling one of the pictures. Gaze shifts will then be used to obtain measures of processing efficiency in deaf individuals using ASL. The goal of this project is to obtain data on real-time processing of sign language by deaf children and adults, a measure that cannot be obtained using current experimental paradigms. Specifically, the objectives of the study are: 1) to investigate real-time processing of ASL by deaf adults and children who have been exposed to language from birth (i.e. from deaf parents), comprising typical development; 2) to reveal possible differences in processing in adults and children who acquire ASL at later ages (i.e., from hearing parents); and 3) to determine the relationship between processing efficiency and ASL skill. This novel paradigm will begin to fill a critical gap in knowledge about how ASL is processed by both typical and atypical language learners. Understanding how sign language is processed in these populations will reveal important insights about critical period phenomena, processing of visual language, and relationships between language processing ability and vocabulary development. PUBLIC HEALTH RELEVANCE: The proposed project will examine how deaf adults and children process American Sign Language (ASL), and whether there are differences in language processing between individuals who have deaf parents and are exposed to ASL from birth, and those who have hearing parents and are exposed to ASL after birth. This study will have implications for early identification and education practices for deaf children, and will contribute to our understanding of language comprehension in different populations, critical period effects on sign language processing, and the potential negative effects of early language deprivation. )