STUDY AND RESEARCH ON DEAFNESS AND DEVELOPMENT

本申请要求对以下方面的研究提供支持： 耳聋与发展 申请人将进行密集的 发展研究，广义的，获得特殊的专门知识 在聋儿的认知和语言发展中的作用。 这 将包括在当地进行监督研究， 其他机构和个人及合作监督 research. 学习和研究的最终目的是 阐明语言和认知在发展中的相互作用。 聋儿的认知和语言灵活性 主要通过对创造性的调查进行研究， 非文字语言的产生。 有意的非文字语言 使用需要认知、语言和元语言技能， 据报道，聋哑儿童缺乏。 然而，PI的研究表明， 显示了他们在语言和认知上的灵活性 与听力正常的同龄人相比， 语言产出而不是英语理解。 的 这些能力的程度将在几个方面进一步研究 研究（包括主要的纵向研究），其中儿童将 创作主题新颖的故事。 将对产品进行分析， 非字面结构的数量和类型。 结果也将 在测试电池的性能方面考虑 语言、图形和概念的灵活性。 这些和其他 研究将检查两者的认知和语言能力 实验室和自然环境中的手语和口语失聪 以确定在多大程度上的语言创造力， 聋哑儿童与手语的使用有关， 再加上一些更普遍的认知成分。 相关 工作将比较理解和记忆的签署和 印刷的比喻语言，以确定是否聋人 自发地理解非字面意义（如听力） 或使用根本不同的解释过程。

This application requests support for research and study on deafness and development. The applicant will undertake intensive study in development, broadly defined, obtaining special expertise in the cognitive and language development of deaf children. This will involve supervised study locally, visits to laboratories at other institutions and individual and collaborative supervised research. The ultimate goal of the study and research is to clarify the interaction of language and cognition in development. The cognitive and language flexibility of deaf children be examined primarily through the investigation of creative, nonliteral language production. Intentional nonliteral language use requires cognitive, linguistic, and metalinguistic skill that deaf children are reported to lack. Research by the PI, however has shown them to display linguistic and cognitive flexibilities comparable to hearing peers when evaluated in terms of sign language production rather then English comprehension. The extent of these abilities will be investigated further in several studies (including major longitudinal study), in which children will create stories to novel themes. Productions will be analyzed for the quantity and type of nonliteral construction. Results also will be considered in terms of performance on a test battery tapping verbal, figural, and conceptual flexibility. These and other studies will examine cognitive and linguistic abilities of both signing and oral deaf in both laboratory and naturalistic settings to determine the extent to which the linguistic creativity seen in deaf children is tied to the use of sign language rather than or in addition to some more general cognitive component. Related work will compare comprehension and memory for signed and printed figurative language to determine whether the deaf spontaneously comprehend nonliteral meaning (as do the hearing) or use fundamentally different interpretation processes.