Abstract:

Experience with a visual-spatial language may influence certain cognitive processes (Keehner and Gathercole 2007). Spatial ability is an important cognitive skill (Linn and Petersen 1985). Some research has found that deaf signers outperform hearing nonsigners on certain spatial tasks (e.g., Emmorey, Kosslyn, and Bellugi 1993) and that hearing signing participants outperform new signers and nonsigners (e.g., Talbot and Haude 1993) on certain spatial tasks. More research is needed to understand how much signing experience creates a signing advantage on spatial tasks.

This research investigated whether hearing adults learning American Sign Language (ASL) as a second language (L2) would outperform nonsigners on two spatial tasks: a mirror reversal with mental rotation task and the Differential Aptitude Test-Space Relations. Additionally, the research investigated which specific spatial skill might be strengthened with experience with ASL. All participants (n = 66) were college students, with normal hearing and (corrected) vision, enrolled in an L2 language class: second semester ASL (beginner signers), fourth semester ASL (intermediate signers), or Spanish (nonsigners). For the mirror reversal task, the mixed-model analysis of variance (ANOVA) results found that degree of rotation and the interaction between degree of rotation and reversal status were significant factors. The scores of both the intermediate and the beginner signer groups were significantly higher than the scores of the nonsigners. Contrary to previous research, these results indicate that even limited ASL learning may serve as spatial skills training. Results on the Space Relations task were analyzed with a one-way ANOVA, and the groups did not differ, suggesting that the ASL participants did not have greater spatial ability in general and that learning a visual language does not correlate with better performance on all spatial tasks.

摘要：

视觉空间语言的经验可能会影响某些认知过程（Keehner 和 Gathercole 2007）。空间能力是一项重要的认知技能（Linn and Petersen 1985）。一些研究发现，聋人手语者在某些空间任务上的表现优于听力非手语者（例如，Emmorey、Kosslyn 和 Bellugi 1993），而听力手语者在某些空间任务上的表现优于新手语者和非手语者（例如，Talbot 和 Haude 1993）。需要更多的研究来了解有多少手语经验在空间任务上创造了手语优势。

这项研究调查了听力正常的成年人学习美国手语 (ASL) 作为第二语言 (L2) 是否会在两项空间任务上胜过非手语者：具有心理旋转任务的镜像反转和差异能力测试-空间关系。此外，该研究调查了哪些特定的空间技能可以通过 ASL 的经验得到加强。所有参与者（n= 66) 是大学生，听力和（矫正的）视力正常，就读于 L2 语言课程：第二学期 ASL（初级手语者）、第四学期 ASL（中级手语者）或西班牙语（非手语者）。对于镜像反转任务，混合模型方差分析 (ANOVA) 结果发现，旋转度数以及旋转度数与反转状态之间的交互作用是显着因素。中级和初学者手语组的分数均显着高于非手语者的分数。与之前的研究相反，这些结果表明，即使是有限的 ASL 学习也可以作为空间技能训练。空间关系任务的结果使用单因素方差分析进行分析，组没有差异，