Effects of language modality on preschoolers' recall of spatial-temporal sequences

Abstract

Given the visual-spatial nature of American Sign Language (ASL), children acquiring this language may be expected to show facility in recall of spatial-temporal sequences that are arbitrarily ordered. Further, because the language provides experience with spatial-temporal sequences lacking props and themes, language-specific experience may generalize to support recall of non-linguistic sequences lacking these features. To test these suggestions, in two experiments we compared recall performance of preschool-aged English-speaking and ASL-signing children. In Experiment 1, we used elicited imitation in a 2 (language: ASL, English × 2 (prop: present, absent) × 2 (theme: present, absent) × 2 (temporal order: enabling, arbitrary) design. Children acquiring ASL had better recall of arbitrarily ordered prop-supported sequences. Further, children acquiring ASL showed some advantage in recall of sign and non-sign gesture sequences. Experiment 2 directly compared real and nonsense word (or sign) recall between the two groups of children; results suggest some benefit from experience with ASL in processing nonlinguistic visual-spatial gestures.