How do people born deaf think?

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Jitro
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23 Sep 2012, 4:04 am

I mean, they've never heard a language.

CrystalStars
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23 Sep 2012, 4:06 am

You think they think differently just because they can't hear?

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Jitro
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23 Sep 2012, 4:14 am

CrystalStars wrote:

You think they think differently just because they can't hear?

Well they don't think in a spoken language, as they've never heard one. Do they think in sign language?

TallyMan
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23 Sep 2012, 4:56 am

It is a very good question. I'm interested to know the answer to that. Personally I'm an extreme visual thinker so words are somewhat secondary to my thoughts anyway - words are added after my (visual) thoughts as a means of communicating them to other people; but I'm guessing that all deaf people aren't necessarily visual in their thinking.

Actually you could ask the same question about intelligent animals too such as dogs and apes. It is clear they have reasoning skills but they have no word based language. Maybe they too are visual thinkers?

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Apple_in_my_Eye
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23 Sep 2012, 4:58 am

Jitro wrote:

CrystalStars wrote:

You think they think differently just because they can't hear?

Well they don't think in a spoken language, as they've never heard one. Do they think in sign language?

According to this article, yes, they do.

IMO, though, there is a level of thought that is beneath language, like when you can't remember a word for what is in your mind. The concept is perfectly clear in your mind despite not being able to connect it to a word. So, I think that thoughts precede words. And so, not having words in your mind doesn't necessarily mean that you can't think. (I think that's why I have to script phone calls -- can't come up with the words for what I want to say in real-time.)

CrystalStars
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23 Sep 2012, 5:01 am

Apple_in_my_Eye wrote:

Jitro wrote:

CrystalStars wrote:

You think they think differently just because they can't hear?

Well they don't think in a spoken language, as they've never heard one. Do they think in sign language?

I know their thought process would be completely different, but...Suffice to say I'm dumb and I can't think of how to phrase whatever it is I'm trying to say.

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TallyMan
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23 Sep 2012, 5:06 am

Apple_in_my_Eye wrote:

IMO, though, there is a level of thought that is beneath language, like when you can't remember a word for what is in your mind. The concept is perfectly clear in your mind despite not being able to connect it to a word. So, I think that thoughts precede words.

Yes, I've noticed this while in a meditative state. Thoughts in the form of concepts or images appear in my mind first then words appear afterwards as a translation, usually in English but sometimes in French. So while it may superficially appear that I can think in more than one language I'm really thinking at a level deeper than those languages.

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blue_bean
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23 Sep 2012, 5:17 am

Jitro wrote:

CrystalStars wrote:

You think they think differently just because they can't hear?

Well they don't think in a spoken language, as they've never heard one. Do they think in sign language?

Maybe they think in written language.

TallyMan
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23 Sep 2012, 5:50 am

blue_bean wrote:

Jitro wrote:

CrystalStars wrote:

You think they think differently just because they can't hear?

Well they don't think in a spoken language, as they've never heard one. Do they think in sign language?

Maybe they think in written language.

I've just read up a little on this. Apparently those that know how to use sign language express their thoughts in sign language. This applies to those who were born totally deaf and have never heard any sounds in their life.

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Venger
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23 Sep 2012, 5:51 am

I used to know someone that was born totally 100% blind which sounds much stranger. I wonder how he would visualize his thoughts, and if he even partially understood what colors are?

blue_bean
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23 Sep 2012, 6:32 am

Venger wrote:

I used to know someone that was born totally 100% blind which sounds much stranger. I wonder how he would visualize his thoughts, and if he even partially understood what colors are?

He probably "heard" the thoughts in his head instead (not in a schizo way, more like an internal dialogue).

Describing colours to a blind person would be challenging though. You'd have to explain in a way that associates the colours to other senses (the smell of salty sea air = blue, the feel of clean linen = white, etc)

naturalplastic
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23 Sep 2012, 8:15 am

TallyMan wrote:

Maybe they too are visual thinkers?

Or, in the case of most non-primate mammals,maybe they are "olfactory thnkers". Most non-primate mammals (like dogs) are very scent oriented in how they precieve the world.

naturalplastic
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23 Sep 2012, 8:22 am

Apple_in_my_Eye wrote:

Jitro wrote:

CrystalStars wrote:

You think they think differently just because they can't hear?

Well they don't think in a spoken language, as they've never heard one. Do they think in sign language?

A guy I meet at a party in college came from a multilingual family in which everyone spoke in Russian, Ukrainian, French, and in English. Often mixing them in the same sentences.

I asked him what "language do you think in?"

He said that he thought about that often "Ill stop my train of thought and think 'what language am I THINKING in'. But the conclusion I always come to is that its no language. Its just thought" which bares out what you're saying.

piroflip
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23 Sep 2012, 9:29 am

CrystalStars wrote:

You think they think differently just because they can't hear?

Of course they do.
How can they not think differently?
When they see a pretty girl do you imagine they think to themselves "wow, look at those legs"?

They may still admire the legs but there will be no internal phrase spoken by them.

.

sluice
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23 Sep 2012, 1:13 pm

Interesting. You think that they would be attuned to fine differences in body language and minute differences in smell. Imagine a language of aromas. We each have our own unique chemical signature.

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