Examining Iconicity with EEG: The role of Motoric Iconicity and Embodied Cognition in American Sign Language - Project Abstract Most deaf/hard-of-hearing (DHH) children are born to hearing parents who do not know sign language. Current methods for auditory amplification are unpredictable, with some children succeeding and many others struggling to access language through amplification. If L1acquisition is delayed, this cascades to negative life- long academic and health effects. Per Early Intervention approaches, caregivers are ideal sources of protective input. However, caregivers require support to quickly learn sign language (using an entirely new modality) to provide language exposure to their child. Signs are produced in the visual-motor modality, with articulators that can map onto visual elements of the world. This mapping between form and meaning is called iconicity. Studies suggest iconicity may facilitate both first and second-language vocabulary acquisition. Both child and adult language processing involves knowledge from sensory-motoric experiences (e.g., implied object orientation or manner of grip). This embodied cognition scaffolds into language processing. Motorically-iconic signs depict the signer manipulating the referent. This visual-motoric mapping provides a place for integrating sign language with the caregivers’ existing embodied cognition, as well as a chance to learn the visual-motor modality. If learning motorically-iconic signs is facilitated by embodied cognition, these signs may be a good starting place for caregiver interventions. This proposal aims to assess the role of embodied cognition in the processing and acquisition of motorically-iconic ASL signs. Aim 1 assesses the role of embodied cognition in sign production (Study 1a) and comprehension (Study 1b) in native signers. Behavioral and EEG results will be compared between motorically-iconic and non-iconic signs. EEG will be used for Event-Related Potential (N400 component) and mu rhythm analysis. The N400 indexes semantic processing. Desynchronization of the mu rhythm indexes embodied engagement of the sensorimotor cortex. Aim 2 uses these measures to assess the role of embodied cognition in production (Study 2a) and comprehension (Study 2b) for hearing caregivers of DHH children. The results of Study 1/2 will lead to an understanding of the roles of embodied cognition in sign learning. If Study 2 finds evidence of facilitation for motorically-iconic signs, it suggests that hearing caregivers integrated iconicity and embodied cognition to aid their learning. Sign acquisition is the best defense against linguistic deprivation for DHH children, but these children need rich, accessible language input as soon as possible in order to set the foundation for healthy development, requiring their caregivers to learn to sign early in their lives. Interventions that capitalize on existing embodied cognition may support caregiver learning. As caregiver signing improves, so does communication with the DHH child, providing a foundation for language development and protection against the lifelong effects of linguistic deprivation.
