Wienholz Anne, Lieberman Amy M
Institute of German Sign Language and Communication of the Deaf, University of Hamburg, Gorch-Fock-Wall 7, 20354, Hamburg, Germany.
Wheelock College of Education and Human Development, Boston University, 2 Silber Way, Boston, MA, 02215, USA.
Mem Cognit. 2025 Mar 27. doi: 10.3758/s13421-025-01695-z.
Processing sign language involves activation of phonological features of signs. Previous research provides evidence for effects of age of sign language acquisition as well as amount and type of phonological relatedness during processing of single signs, but it is unknown how these factors affect sentence-level sign processing. This paper presents a phonological priming eye tracking study of American Sign Language (ASL) processing, in which we systematically vary the degree and type of phonological relatedness in prime-target sign pairs embedded in ASL sentences. We tested degree of relatedness by using sign pairs sharing either one or two out of three phonological parameters. We tested type of relatedness by using signs that were phonologically related in all possible combinations of the parameters handshape, location, and movement. Participants were exposed to sign language either early (before the age of five years) or late (after the age of five years), allowing us to explore how age of sign language acquisition impacts activation of phonological features of signs. Late signers were more affected by the degree of relatedness than early signers; primes that shared any information with the target led to increased time to identify the target, regardless of the specific parameter(s) that overlapped. There was a high degree of variability for type of relatedness, but sign pairs that shared location were particularly salient. Group differences suggested varying sensitivities to phonological information in early and late signers. Our study emphasizes that phonological relatedness should be carefully controlled when examining sign processing in signers differing in their language backgrounds.
处理手语涉及激活手语的语音特征。先前的研究为手语习得年龄以及单个手语处理过程中语音相关性的数量和类型的影响提供了证据，但尚不清楚这些因素如何影响句子层面的手语处理。本文呈现了一项关于美国手语（ASL）处理的语音启动眼动追踪研究，其中我们系统地改变了ASL句子中启动-目标手语对的语音相关性程度和类型。我们通过使用在三个语音参数中共享一个或两个参数的手语对来测试相关性程度。我们通过使用在手形、位置和运动参数的所有可能组合中语音相关的手语来测试相关性类型。参与者在早期（五岁之前）或晚期（五岁之后）接触手语，这使我们能够探究手语习得年龄如何影响手语语音特征的激活。晚期手语使用者比早期手语使用者更容易受到相关性程度的影响；与目标共享任何信息的启动语都会导致识别目标的时间增加，无论重叠的具体参数是什么。相关性类型存在高度变异性，但共享位置的手语对尤为显著。组间差异表明早期和晚期手语使用者对语音信息的敏感度不同。我们的研究强调，在研究语言背景不同的手语使用者的手语处理时，应仔细控制语音相关性。
