Word Learning in Deaf Children Using Eye-tracking and Behavioral Measures

Mutual exclusivity is a word learning constraint in which the learner assumes that a given word refers to only one category of objects. In spoken languages, mutual exclusivity has been demonstrated in monolingual children as young as 17 months and cross-linguistically, while multilingual learners show an attenuated mutual exclusivity bias. Mutual exclusivity has not been robustly demonstrated in deaf children acquiring American Sign Language (ASL). Further, it is unclear if mutual exclusivity applies to those learning both a signed and a spoken language. Like unimodal bilinguals, bimodal bilingual (BiBi) children learn two words for an object, but these words are separated by modality. A BiBi child could therefore assume that all objects have two words (like unimodal bilinguals) or that all objects have one spoken word and one sign (within-modality mutual exclusivity). The goals of the current study are to demonstrate mutual exclusivity in monolingual deaf children acquiring ASL, and to determine if BiBi deaf children utilize mutual exclusivity within each modality.

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Key information

Conditions

Deafness Ear Diseases Hearing Disorders Hearing Loss Nervous System Diseases Neurologic Manifestations Otorhinolaryngologic Diseases Pathological Conditions, Signs and Symptoms Sensation Disorders Signs and Symptoms

Age range

18 month–60 month

Sex eligibility

All sexes

Study type

Interventional

Phase

Not applicable

Primary location

Boston University

Boston, Massachusetts, 02215, United States

About this study

The investigators will investigate how deaf children prioritize input cues to word meaning when linguistic cues (i.e. mutual exclusivity) and referential gaze are in conflict in a structured word learning task.

Participants: Deaf children (n=40) ages 24-60 months. Investigators will recruit 60 children to allow for 33% attrition. While the inclusion criteria are the same as other studies, here investigators do use spoken language exposure as a grouping variable, as follows: based on responses to the language background questionnaire regarding exposure to spoken English, participants will be grouped according to language use as monolingual ASL or bimodal bilingual (spoken English/ASL). Participants will be identified as bimodal bilingual is 1) the primary caregiver reports spoken English to communicate with their child (either alone or in conjunction with ASL), and 2) the primary caregiver reports that their child's ability to understand spoken English is at least a 3 on a Likert-type scale ranging from 0-5. Parents in this group will complete the short-form English CDI in addition to the ASL language measures.

Procedure: Participants will sit across a table from an experimenter who will present pairs of objects--one familiar, one novel--with one pair in each of nine trials (three per condition). The experimenter will prompt the participant to give them one of the toys, signing "I WANT YOU-GIVE-ME WHAT?" Then the experimenter will provide a cue; the child's selection will be recorded. In the gaze condition, the cue will be a gaze shift to the familiar object. In the mutual exclusivity condition, the cue will be a novel sign. In the conflict condition, both a gaze shift to the familiar object and a novel sign will be used. The trial order and object pair will be pseudo-randomly assigned.

Planned analysis: Investigators will use an omnibus mixed effects binomial model to determine how well condition and language environment predict the likelihood to select the novel object, with item and child as random factors.

Who can participate

Healthy volunteers accepted: No

Only the study team can determine whether someone qualifies for participation.

Inclusion criteria

Deaf children ages 18-60 months
born severely to profoundly deaf
have either deaf or hearing parents
communicate using American Sign Language
have normal to corrected normal vision

Exclusion criteria

Deaf children who have not been exposed to American Sign Language

Treatment and study plan

input cue

Other

The object is labelled with 1) gaze only; 2) novel label only; or 3) conflicting gaze and novel label

Primary outcomes

Selected object

Time frame: 10 seconds following experimenter prompt

Children will select one of the two objects on the table in front of them. Their selection will be scored as correct or incorrect based on the target object.

Sponsors and collaborators

Lead sponsor

Boston University Charles River Campus

Other

Registry information

Important dates

Study start: 2023
Primary completion: 2025
Study completion: 2025
First posted: Aug 15, 2023
Registry last updated: Apr 27, 2026

OpenTrials presents study information sourced from ClinicalTrials.gov. The official registry record should be consulted for the latest information.

View the official ClinicalTrials.gov record (opens in a new tab)

This listing is for discovery and informational purposes only. It is not medical advice, does not guarantee that a study is recruiting, and does not determine eligibility. Contact the study team and a qualified healthcare professional when considering participation.

Published trials that share one or more normalized conditions with this study.

Completed