Word recognition and learning in signing deaf toddlers

Deaf children acquiring American Sign Language (ASL) perceive both linguistic and non-linguistic information through the visual mode. Thus, signing deaf children face a unique task in word learning, in that mapping objects to referents requires careful allocation of visual attention. This study investigates how perceptual experience and language modality influence both the moment-by-moment and developmental timecourse of word recognition and word learning. We analyzed data from two eyetracking experiments, previously reported in Lieberman, Fitch, and Borovsky (2022). Deaf children (N = 52, 18-71 months old, M_age = 47 months) were first exposed to familiar and novel words, and then tested on the speed and accuracy of word recognition. Here we focus on the previously-unanalyzed familiar word trials. We ask what factors predict familiar word recognition, and whether familiar word recognition is related to novel word learning in ASL. We found that children's accuracy on familiar word recognition improves across developmental time. We did not find evidence for differences in looking behavior based on parent hearing status or recent exposure to the word. Individual differences in children's performance on familiar word trials correlated with their accuracy in novel sign recognition. Despite the increased attentional demands of word learning in a visual language, we find parallels between signed and spoken languages in children's developing word recognition accuracy and in the relationship between word recognition and word learning.