Do Deaf People See Better? Texture Segmentation and Visual Search Compensate in Adult but Not in Juvenile Subjects

摘要: The research concerning the visual perception in deaf subjects has led to contradictory results: Deaf have been reported show enhanced perceptual skills compared hearing (Neville & Lawson, 1987). On other hand, there are indications that acoustic deprivation may produce an inferiority all sensory modalities (Myklebust, 1964). These contradictions be due methodological differences: investigators selected different conditions (e.g. attentive/nonattentive) and various samples of (e.g., age, language, aetiology groups). In our study, we tested a large sample with texture segmentation search conditions, which allowed us differentiate between processing without attentional load. All had profound loss within first year life. Our results suggest capacity children adolescents does not exceed age- gender-matched subjects. Rather, school deficits Age (6 20 years), language used (oral, sign, oral + sign), for deafness (genetic, maternal rubella, perinatal, infection life, unknown) did consistently influence results. were partially compensated adult performances adults trials could solved preattentively differ statistically significantly, but attention-dependent more efficient than controls. We conclude compensation is limited tasks develop until adulthood.