Abstract

Differences in IQ between deaf children of hearing parents (HP), deaf children of deaf parents (DP) and hearing children (HC) may be due to differences in speed of information processing. The Hick paradigm was used to obtain reaction times (RT) and movement times (MT) from samples of HP (N = 31), DP (N = 31), and HC (N = 37) adolescents. Results show that DP subjects have faster RTs and MTs than HP or HC subjects (ts ≥ 2.43, ps < .01), and that greater sign language exposure is related to faster MT (r2 = .180, p < .0005). HC subjects have higher IQs than HP subjects (t = 2.66, p < .01), but DP IQs are not different from either group (ts < 1.96, NS). The results show that Performance IQs (PIQs) obscure important differences between HP, HC and DP groups. Results are discussed in light of their theoretical and educational implications.

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