Thinking

B

Bevo

New Member
Joined
Aug 19, 2011
Messages
3
Reaction score
0
Hello.

I have a question that I am sure is very common but I took a quick look around and didn't see anything. Last week for the first time I had a conversation (written as I don't know ASL) with someone who is deaf, and has been since birth. It has had me thinking all week. One question in particular. So I felt the need to find some one to ask about it.

Anyway, my question is about how someone who has been deaf since birth thinks. Or more to the point how the thought process works. For example for myself when I am thinking to myself it is as if I am speaking to myself. I am thinking in the verbal language. If I am reading a book, or this post, it is as if I am reading out loud to myself only it is in my head. How does this work with out having ever experienced the verbal language, only the written one?

I hope it is not a dumb or silly question. It probably is, but I had to ask someone anyway. Thank you for your time. =)
 
Deaf from birth, here...

The written language not the only language I experience. Also signed language. I think thought process the same? Never been hearie so not certain.
 
Not a dumb question. Important question.

I think in pictures, not words. When I read, or talk/communicate, I am translating in my head the visual of what that word means.

For example, when I read the word 'running' in my mind I'm picturing someone running so that I can relate to the word. I think in ASL not English.

I actually posted a thread about this last year and Jillio provided an excellent, how do you say, explanation?

http://www.alldeaf.com/our-world-our-culture/85467-its-up-debate.html
 
I'm reading a book you might be interested in, called "[ame="http://www.amazon.ca/Talking-Hands-Language-Reveals-About/dp/0743247124"]Talking Hands: What Sign Language Reveals about the Mind[/ame]"

Thank you, Rebeccaj, for posting that link to the other thread... this is something I've thought about a lot as well. When I was taking ASL, my professor was not only CODA, but had a degree in linguistics... we talked a lot about how language impacts the way you see the world, the way you interact with it, and the way you process information. It makes sense that ASL-natives process information visually, approach problems from a top-down perspective, and tend to have better spacial skills.

What I find interesting is that when people use ASL, the part of the brain that processes language is active, but so are other parts that aren't involved with verbal languages. (I have my undergrad in Psych; I'm fascinated with this stuff... I'll try to keep from going off on a tangent :)

The fact that ASL activates language centers in the brain is one of the things that supported the argument that ASL is, indeed, a full, vibrant language and not just English put to gestures. Also, small children go through the same phases when ASL is their native language (for example, kids will mix up you and me, or me and my)... I can still see my ASL prof "screaming" in ASL "ASL IS NOT ICONIC." (Which still goes through my head every time one of my hearing friends complains that a sign "doesn't make sense")

When my brain goes funny (I have seizures), I find that English goes out the window. I can't find words, and mix up words--like calling a chair a house. I've read things I've tried to write, and it all comes out in ASL order... But I can usually communicate just fine in ASL. One of my MRI's showed scar tissue over the left part of my brain that is connected with language--the Broca's area, and the dr's think that when things get wonky in my brain (highly technical explanation), that scar tissue makes it hard for electrical signals to go through that area.

If you read this article, it talks about those language areas of the brain, and about how that language loop is active in deaf people as well.

Rant over. :cool2:
 
I can still hear mostly, but I never thought in voice. I can hear most speech but have always thought or read like a movie reel in my head.

Motion picture in my head is awesome, I like to think it makes me a better daydreamer.
Seems like no matter hearing status each individual is different.
 
I thought I had replied but perhaps I messed up. Hopefully I am not making a double post.

I just wanted to thank y'all for linking that thread and the book. Thinking in ASL. That does make so much sense. I would be very interested to read about how that changes how people may make connections in what it is they are thinking about.

I was having a hard time trying to think of how the thought process differed for those deaf from birth, and those who are not all on my own. I am color blind and have read many times about the different colors and how they may look, but can not actually see those colors with my eyes or my mind. But thinking in ASL solves that perfectly. And makes so much sense. I am not sure why I did not think of that, it seems it should have been a quite obvious explanation to me, however I totally missed it. =)

It is like when I think in math. I am an engineer quite good at math and engineering challenges. When I am doing math in my head, or working on an engine or pump, I do not think in English. I think in math, or in terms of the engineering schematics or diagrams. It is now so obvious to me. When doing math or when doing engineering work pretty much all of my thought is visual and very little if any is English in my head. I can't believe I didn't make that connection. =)

So I now have one more quick question? Do perhaps those who were born deaf show any exceptionally better skill at math or engineering than most of us? If that visual part of the brain is being used so often and in place of the auditory parts, I wonder if it gets stronger? If the connections between the visual and the language parts are stronger? But I really don't have the first idea how brains work but it might be interesting find out more. I am going to give that book a read for sure.

Thank you all for sharing.
 
sunny_signs said:
Born deaf, suck math.
Click to expand...

Same but only cos I never been taught properly in Maths cos not understanding teaching saying nothing at all. No terps in class.

EDIT: My uni interpreter some of Deaf people are really good at maths esp Deaf of Deaf.
 
You've already been linked to my explanation of thought processes, but to answer the most recent question, no. Deaf people are no more gifted in math that what you would find in the general population.

You need to also keep in mind that more advanced skills require such forms of thinking as would likely to be impaired to a degree in a child who has no native language. Unfortunately, with 90% of deaf children being in the care of hearing parents, this is still far too great a number of children. Language delays affect not only language, but cognition, as well.
 
sunny_signs said:
Deaf of Hearies here. Why this is?
Click to expand...

Deaf of Deaf may show a greater degree of math skills, particularly the advanced skills, because A) they have the advantage of having a native language and therefore, do not suffer the consequences of language delays that affect cognition and B) like all of the deaf who sign, they have excellent skills in pattern recognition.
 
jillio said:
I think it is. It is amazing the ways in which delayed language acquisition and learning language rather than acquiring it affects the individual.
Click to expand...

Must research this. I learned language, not acquired. Wonder what effects learning not acquiring had.
 
There has been LITTLE research in the neuroscience field regard deafblind individuals. I got the fortune to read one proposal of a hypothesis to research the fact that your brain itself remaps in as little as 5 days after a traumatic accident resulting in loss of sense.

Also in that same proposal it states that deafblind people from birth have better memory because the blood flow in their brain is actually different than sighted/aural people.
 
sunny_signs said:
Must research this. I learned language, not acquired. Wonder what effects learning not acquiring had.
Click to expand...

Well, it would depend. When did you first start getting exposed to sign, for one thing.

But there have been some very predictable consequences of language delays in later cognitive tasks. Some of it can be mediated by closing the delay at later times. You don't, from what I have seen, suffer any glaring results that we see in many.

Shel and I have discussed this in the past, and have generally agreed that while she is very successful and accomplished, earning her master's in deaf education and possessing an excellent command of English, there were certain things that she still has to work much harder at as a result of English being her only language for a good part of her life. And, just because it is an individual's only language does not mean that they use that language like a native. There are certain hallmarks of a native language user that we just don't see in deaf kids who do not have a native language.

Before anyone gets offended and thinks I am saying that deaf people are impaired cognitively, that is not what I am saying at all.
 
posts from hell said:
There has been LITTLE research in the neuroscience field regard deafblind individuals. I got the fortune to read one proposal of a hypothesis to research the fact that your brain itself remaps in as little as 5 days after a traumatic accident resulting in loss of sense.

Also in that same proposal it states that deafblind people from birth have better memory because the blood flow in their brain is actually different than sighted/aural people.
Click to expand...

This is true. The same differences in blood flow and activation in areas of the brain are shown in deaf individuals who are fluent in sign. The blood flow is increased to more areas of the brain than we see in hearing people who are exposed to spoken language. Which just indicates that the deaf are using more than just the language centers of the brain when they process sign.
 
jillio said:
Well, it would depend. When did you first start getting exposed to sign, for one thing.

But there have been some very predictable consequences of language delays in later cognitive tasks. Some of it can be mediated by closing the delay at later times. You don't, from what I have seen, suffer any glaring results that we see in many.

Shel and I have discussed this in the past, and have generally agreed that while she is very successful and accomplished, earning her master's in deaf education and possessing an excellent command of English, there were certain things that she still has to work much harder at as a result of English being her only language for a good part of her life. And, just because it is an individual's only language does not mean that they use that language like a native. There are certain hallmarks of a native language user that we just don't see in deaf kids who do not have a native language.
Click to expand...

About 2.5 years when I start signing.

Only thing I notice is sometimes difficulties in switching between thinking ASL and English (sometimes type comes half-ASL/half-English). ASL my first language, but not native. I learn with family.

Edit - sometimes signing looks more SEE than ASL. Think parents teach more SEE.
 
Back
Top