Gianfreda Gabriele, Giovanelli Elena, Gessa Elena, Valzolgher Chiara, Lamano Luca, Lucioli Tommaso, Tomasuolo Elena, Finos Livio, Pavani Francesco, Rinaldi Pasquale
Institute of Cognitive Sciences and Technologies (ISTC-CNR), Via Nomentana 56, 00161, Rome, Italy.
Center for Mind/Brain Sciences - CIMeC, University of Trento, Rovereto, Italy.
Cogn Process. 2025 May;26(2):435-446. doi: 10.1007/s10339-024-01254-5. Epub 2025 Jan 28.
Face masks can impact processing a narrative in sign language, affecting several metacognitive dimensions of understanding (i.e., perceived effort, confidence and feeling of understanding). However, to what extent this is modulated by sign language proficiency remains an open question. Thirty deaf adults were administered a narrative in Italian Sign Language (LIS), signed in three different visual conditions: no mask, transparent mask, opaque mask. In addition, they completed a Sentence Reproduction Task in LIS (LIS-SRT) to measure their sign language proficiency. Results showed that some of the error types in the LIS-SRT have significant correlations with performance in the comprehension task, revealing external validity for this sentence repetition test. Crucially, while sign language proficiency did not modulate the impact of face-masks on narrative comprehension, the metacognitive outcomes were clearly influenced by the interaction between LIS proficiency and visual conditions. Skilled signers experienced less effort and higher levels of confidence and feeling of understanding, whereas these subjective experiences were greatly impacted by visual conditions in less proficient signers. We discuss these findings in reference to cognitive load, thus also extending the construct of "listening effort" to sign languages. In addition, we relate differences in cognitive load in skilled vs. less proficient signers to the ability to extract and process at the same time multiple types of linguistic elements from the flow of signs (multilinear processing of sign language).
口罩会影响手语叙事的处理过程，影响理解的几个元认知维度（即感知努力、信心和理解感）。然而，手语熟练程度对此的调节程度仍是一个悬而未决的问题。30名成年聋人观看了一段用意大利手语（LIS）讲述的叙事视频，该视频在三种不同的视觉条件下进行手语展示：不戴口罩、戴透明口罩、戴不透明口罩。此外，他们完成了一项意大利手语句子复述任务（LIS-SRT）以测量他们的手语熟练程度。结果表明，LIS-SRT中的一些错误类型与理解任务中的表现存在显著相关性，这表明该句子复述测试具有外部效度。至关重要的是，虽然手语熟练程度并未调节口罩对叙事理解的影响，但元认知结果明显受到LIS熟练程度与视觉条件之间相互作用的影响。熟练的手语使用者感受到的努力较少，信心和理解感更高，而这些主观体验在不太熟练的手语使用者中受视觉条件的影响很大。我们参考认知负荷来讨论这些发现，从而也将“倾听努力”的概念扩展到手语中。此外，我们将熟练与不太熟练的手语使用者在认知负荷上的差异与从手语流中同时提取和处理多种语言元素的能力（手语的多线性处理）联系起来。
