Visual Spatial Enhancements in Congenital Deaf and Signers
Abstract
This paper examines the concept of compensatory plasticity for deaf individuals by reviewing background research on reorganization of visual processing. Early work in visual processing and cognition noted neutral to worse development compared to hearing populations. Much of this research is flawed due to researchers using heterogeneous populations of deaf individuals, not drawing a line between those profoundly and those with varying degrees of hearing loss. By collecting research based only on those populations that are congenitally deaf and have acquired a sign language (native signers), enhancements found in visual attention are highlighted. Finally, by taking the results of these studies, this paper shows the implications for this reorganization of visual processing in the education of the deaf and policies that may help maintain attention skills.
Cognitive psychology has long been interested in......
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Approximate Word Count: 3849
Approximate Pages: 15 (260 words per double-spaced page) |