Motor adaptation in deaf and hearing native signers

Abstract

Previous studies have suggested that deafness could lead to deficits in motor skills and other body-related abilities. However, the literature regarding motor skills in deaf adults is scarce and existing studies often included participants with heterogeneous language backgrounds and deafness etiologies, thus making it difficult to delineate the effects of deafness. In this study, we investigated motor learning in deaf native signers and hearing nonsigners. To isolate the effects of deafness and those of acquiring a signed language, we additionally tested a group of hearing native signers. Two well-established paradigms of motor learning were employed, in which participants had to adapt their hand movements to a rotation of the visual feedback (Experiment 1) or to the introduction of a force field (Experiment 2). Proprioceptive estimates were assessed before and after adaptation. Like hearing nonsigners, deaf and hearing signers showed robust adaptation in both motor adaptation paradigms. No significant differences in motor adaptation and memory were observed between deaf signers and hearing nonsigners, as well as between hearing signers and hearing nonsigners. Moreover, no discernible group differences in proprioceptive accuracy were observed. These findings challenge the prevalent notion that deafness leads to deficits in motor skills and other body-related abilities.