Initiatives & Projects

project 27 -- Effect of age of deafness on visual attention

NCF 1: Effect of age of deafness on visual attention (Dye, Bavelier, Hauser):

This project is analyzing how deafness affects the distribution of visual attention in space and how it is assigned to objects in that space. Research has suggested that the distribution of attention in the peripheral visual field is enhanced by congenital deafness. We are looking at factors that may influence the plasticity of visual attention in deaf individuals, such as age of onset, degree of hearing loss, and length of deafness. These factors may have important consequences for the development of reading and joint attention, and may also play a key role in the diagnosis of attention deficits and other learning disabilities in the deaf. An important control population is hearing children of deaf parents, because they acquire a signed language from birth but have no auditory deprivation. Comparing these two groups is helping us understand the relative impacts of sensory loss and linguistic development.

Related Initiatives:

Neurocognitive Foundations of Vision for Lang. and Comm.

The is material is based upon work supported by the National Science Foundation under grant number SBE-0541953. Any opinions, findings, and conclusions or recommendations expressed are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of the National Science Foundation.