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Cognitive consequences of congenital deafness
C Tomlinson-Keasey1, C Smith-Winberry
1Department of Psychology, University of California-Riverside 92521.
The Journal of Genetic Psychology
|March 1, 1990
Summary
Congenitally deaf children performed similarly to hearing children on spatial information processing tasks but showed deficits in processing sequential digits. Sensory input loss had minimal impact on most cognitive tasks studied.
Area of Science:
- Cognitive Psychology
- Neuroscience
- Developmental Psychology
Background:
- Long-term sensory deprivation, such as congenital deafness, can impact cognitive development.
- Understanding how different sensory modalities influence information processing is crucial for developmental studies.
Purpose of the Study:
- To compare information processing abilities between congenitally deaf and hearing children.
- To investigate the effects of sensory input loss on sequential and spatial tasks.
Main Methods:
- Utilized four information processing tasks: two sequential and two spatial.
- Compared performance metrics between groups of deaf and hearing children.
Main Results:
- Deaf children matched hearing children on recalling light sequences and complex spatial tasks.
- Deaf children demonstrated a significant disadvantage in processing sequentially presented digits.
Conclusions:
- Congenital deafness minimally affected performance on most information processing tasks examined.
- Specific deficits in sequential processing, like digit recall, may arise from the absence of auditory input.