Understanding the Dynamics of Visual Attention in ASL Learning American Sign Language (ASL) is all about seeing and using signs to communicate. For deaf or hard-of-hearing children, learning ASL depends on knowing when to look at the person signing. But how do children learn this skill? In a recent study published in the Proceedings of the Annual Meeting of the Cognitive Science Society (2024), researchers Paris Gappmayr and Amy M. Lieberman explored how deaf and hard-of-hear

Do signers organize their mental dictionary by how signs are formed, the way speakers organize theirs by sound? And does that change when language comes late? A look across a series of our studies.

Deaf children learning ASL split one visual channel between language and the world. Our research looks at how they manage it, what parents do to help, and why it matters for vocabulary.