Memory for Sign Language: Implications for the Structure of Working Memory

A tremendous amount of past research has investigated how Deaf people remember verbal material (e.g., Conrad, 1970; Furth, 1966; O’Connor & Hermelin, 1973; see Marschark, 1993, for a review). However, the focus of this research was primarily on memory for spoken or written English, with little regard to whether Deaf people might encode information using a sign-based representation. In this chapter, we explore the possibility of sign-based memory and what it can tell us about the architecture and nature of human memory systems. Specifically, we examine working memory-the short-term memory system involved in the processing and temporary storage of information.