Processing Orthographic Structure: Associations between Print and Fingerspelling

San Diego State University Foundation, San Diego CA

Investigators

Abstract

For over a century educators and researchers have been trying to determine how profoundly deaf children learn to read. Deaf children are in the unique position of learning to read and write a language that they do not speak and cannot hear. Unlike people who can hear, deaf people experience English orthography in two forms: as printed text and as fingerspelling, in which each alphabetic letter is represented by a distinct hand configuration. This project investigates one possible route that deaf readers may utilize to develop mappings between letters and sounds: the fingerspelling system of American Sign Language (ASL). By identifying the similarities and differences between reading print and "reading" fingerspelling, one can identify how fingerspelling might be most effectively used in reading instruction. Another aim of the project is to use functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging (fMRI) to investigate the brain areas that support the reading of print and fingerspelling by deaf readers. Of particular interest is whether the so-called "Visual Word Form Area" is activated for fingerspelling and whether deaf readers use the same neural circuits for reading as people who can hear. This project will compare the brain areas that are activated when reading words for deaf adults, for hearing adults who do not know ASL, and for hearing people who are bilingual in ASL and English. Finally, a parallel aim of the project is to increase the representation of deaf people in science by including deaf research assistants on the project and providing an accessible environment for deaf students to gain research experience.