Routes to short-term memory indexing: Lessons from deaf native users of American Sign Language

Abstract

Models of working memory (WM) have been instrumental in understanding foundational cognitive processes and sources of individual differences. However, current models cannot conclusively explain the consistent group differences between deaf signers and hearing speakers on a number of short-term memory (STM) tasks. Here we take the perspective that these results are not due to a temporal order-processing deficit in deaf individuals, but rather reflect different biases in how different types of memory cues are used to do a given task. We further argue that the main driving force behind the shifts in relative biasing is a consequence of language modality (sign vs. speech) and the processing they afford, and not deafness, per se.

Keywords:

• Short-term memory
• Deafness
• Sign language
• Phonological coding
• Spatial–temporal coding

Acknowledgments

We would like to thank all of the subjects recruited from the National Technical Institute of the Deaf at the Rochester Institute of Technology, Rochester, NY, and from the University of Rochester, Rochester, NY. We would also like to thank C. Clark for subject recruitment, R. Harris for data collection, A. Sapre for computer programming, and T. Supalla for stimulus materials. This research was supported by the National Institutes of Health (DC04418 to D.B.) and the Charles A. Dana Foundation (to D.B.).