Interactions between language and cognition in deaf individuals

超过90%的失聪儿童是由听力正常的父母所生。由于早期语言输入减少，这些儿童面临语言和认知发展迟缓的风险。缺乏语言获取也会影响其他领域，包括认知功能（例如Figueras等人，2008；Botting等人，2017）。在我的博士论文中，我研究了聋人的语言技能、认知任务中的表现和大脑功能之间的关系。我的研究表明，语言能力与非语言认知过程有关，比如在不同任务和计划之间切换。它展示了语言如何塑造语言领域之外的认知方面，因此将语言描述为成功认知发展的关键垫脚石之一。在此期间，我将追求以下目标：我将通过发表博士论文来建立我的研究记录，并与学术界分享我的发现，与研究不同人群语言发展的研究人员建立新的联系。这将有利于我的长期目标，即在其他具有非典型语言发展经历的儿童中弥合耳聋和语言发展研究之间的差距。这类研究和合作对于为旨在促进儿童认知和语言发展的行为干预提供信息至关重要。在我的奖学金期间，我将花大量的时间将我的论文的发现传达给公众、聋人和从业者。我的论文认识到语言和认知之间相互作用的复杂性，并强调对任何形态的语言的访问甚至支持认知的非语言方面。这对科学地理解语言和认知之间的相互作用、早期干预和教育计划如何促进失聪儿童的语言和认知发展、以及如何在这一人群中评估这些方面的发展具有重要意义。特别是，如果他们的环境是多模态的，以单一语言和模态（例如英语口语）进行的评估可能不能代表儿童的实际语言能力。这是改变当前实践的重要证据，在这种实践中，评估仅限于测试人员所知道的语言。我还将通过参加一门关于认知研究中的计算方法的课程来获得新的技能，这将帮助我在耳聋研究和非典型语言发展经验儿童研究之间建立一座桥梁。我还将通过创建一个基于在线的任务来评估聋哑人的文字/手语学习来扩展我的研究组合。这将使我能够巩固我的博士学位，巩固我未来研究项目的计划，为资助申请提供试点数据，并在语言发展和学习研究方面寻求新的途径。我将把我的研究计划集中在探索聋人的各种认知过程（例如，执行功能和动机的组成部分）和语言技能之间的联系。通过实现这些关键目标，我将能够在我以前的工作基础上制定一个有竞争力的研究计划，并将语言领域之外的其他认知过程纳入其中。我将侧重于什么可能支持聋人语言技能的发展。通过选择那些有发育性语言迟缓风险的儿童，或者选择那些来自社会经济背景较低的儿童，或者选择那些干预和教育不能保护儿童免受语言输入无法获得的问题的国家（例如格鲁吉亚）的儿童，我将能够更好地理解语言剥夺、学习和认知之间的关系。更好地了解有助于口头和手语语言学习的因素对于设计干预措施至关重要。

Over 90% of deaf children are born to hearing parents. These children are at risk of delays in language and cognitive development due to diminished early language input. Impoverished language access also affects other domains, including cognitive function (e.g. Figueras et al., 2008; Botting et al., 2017). In my PhD thesis, I investigated associations between language skills, performance during cognitive tasks, and brain function in deaf individuals. My research shows that language proficiency is associated with nonverbal cognitive processes, such as switching between different tasks and planning. It demonstrates how language may shape aspects of cognition outside of the language domain, therefore characterising language as one of the critical stepping stones for successful cognitive development.During this Fellowship, I will pursue the following objectives:I will build my research track record by publishing papers based on my PhD and share my findings with academics to form new connections with researchers who study language development in different populations. This will benefit my long-term aim of bridging the gap between research on deafness and language development in other children with atypical language development experiences. Such research and collaborations will be critical for informing behavioural interventions that aim to facilitate cognitive and language development in children.I will dedicate substantial time during my Fellowship to communicate findings from my thesis to the general public, deaf individuals, and practitioners. My thesis recognises the complexity of the interactions between language and cognition, and emphasises that access to language of any modality supports even nonverbal aspects of cognition. This has implications for the scientific understanding of interactions between language and cognition, for how early intervention and educational programmes may be promoting language and cognitive development in deaf children, and for how these aspects of development are assessed in this population. In particular, assessments conducted in a single language and modality (e.g. spoken English) may not be representative of the children's actual language ability if their environment is multi-modal. This is important evidence to change current practice, where assessments are limited to the language known by the tester.I will also gain new skills by attending a course on computational methods in research on cognition, which will help me form a bridge between research on deafness and in children with atypical language development experiences. I will also expand my research portfolio by creating an online- based task to assess word/sign-learning in deaf individuals. This will allow me to build on my PhD, consolidate plans for my future research programme, generate pilot data for funding applications, and pursue new avenues in research on language development and learning. I will focus my research programme on exploring associations between various cognitive processes (e.g., components of executive function and motivation) and language skills in deaf individuals.By achieving these key aims, I will be able to develop a competitive research proposal that builds on my previous work and incorporates other cognitive processes outside of the language domain into the picture. I will focus on what may support the development of language skills in deaf individuals. By targeting children that are at risk of developmental language delays, by either selecting those from lower socio-economic backgrounds, or from countries where intervention and education do not shield children from issues resulting from the inaccessibility of language input (e.g. Georgia), I will be able to provide a better understanding of the relationship between language deprivation, learning, and cognition. Better knowledge of the factors that aid language learning in both spoken and signed modalities is critical for designing interventions.