Wang Jihong, Napier Jemina
Department of Linguistics, Macquarie University, Sydney NSW 2109, Australia.
J Deaf Stud Deaf Educ. 2013 Apr;18(2):271-86. doi: 10.1093/deafed/ens068. Epub 2013 Jan 9.
This study investigated the effects of hearing status and age of signed language acquisition on signed language working memory capacity. Professional Auslan (Australian sign language)/English interpreters (hearing native signers and hearing nonnative signers) and deaf Auslan signers (deaf native signers and deaf nonnative signers) completed an Auslan working memory (WM) span task. The results revealed that the hearing signers (i.e., the professional interpreters) significantly outperformed the deaf signers on the Auslan WM span task. However, the results showed no significant differences between the native signers and the nonnative signers in their Auslan working memory capacity. Furthermore, there was no significant interaction between hearing status and age of signed language acquisition. Additionally, the study found no significant differences between the deaf native signers (adults) and the deaf nonnative signers (adults) in their Auslan working memory capacity. The findings are discussed in relation to the participants' memory strategies and their early language experience. The findings present challenges for WM theories.
本研究调查了听力状况和手语习得年龄对手语工作记忆容量的影响。专业的澳大利亚手语（Auslan）/英语口译员（听力正常的本土手语使用者和听力正常的非本土手语使用者）以及失聪的澳大利亚手语使用者（失聪的本土手语使用者和失聪的非本土手语使用者）完成了一项澳大利亚手语工作记忆（WM）广度任务。结果显示，在澳大利亚手语WM广度任务中，听力正常的手语使用者（即专业口译员）的表现显著优于失聪的手语使用者。然而，结果表明本土手语使用者和非本土手语使用者在澳大利亚手语工作记忆容量方面没有显著差异。此外，听力状况和手语习得年龄之间没有显著的交互作用。此外，该研究发现失聪的本土手语使用者（成年人）和失聪的非本土手语使用者（成年人）在澳大利亚手语工作记忆容量方面没有显著差异。研究结果结合参与者的记忆策略及其早期语言经历进行了讨论。这些发现给工作记忆理论带来了挑战。
