What affects phonological working memory in deaf native signers
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The long tradition of studies on phonological working memory (pWM) in speakers of various languages has indicated that pWM is limited and susceptible to the effects of word length, lexicality, serial position, and phonological markedness. In the present study, we examine these aspects of the pWM in a different modality: sign language. We developed a test battery for the assessment of pWM in Israeli Sign Language, including four serial recall tasks (simple lexical signs with short and long path movement, pseudosigns, and compound signs), and administered it to 37 adult native signers of Israeli Sign Language. We found that sign language users exhibit effects on pWM that are similar to those reported for spoken languages, including lexicality, phonological markedness, and serial position. The effect of sign length was found to be determined by the number of syllables, but not by temporal duration, number of sequential segments, or length of path movement. Phonological substitution errors in pseudosigns mainly involved the handshape parameter; more errors occurred in marked than in unmarked handshapes, and more perseverations than anticipations. Number of hands involved in the sign did not affect spans. Our findings show that the general properties of pWM are shared by signers and speakers, pointing to modality-free pWM mechanisms, and also reveal some modality-related differences. These similarities in pWM mechanisms suggest that phonological information is processed similarly regardless of its nature (auditory-verbal or visuo-spatial).