Nonauditory suffix effects in congenitally deaf signers of American Sign Language.

A series of unordered recall tasks was administered to groups of congenitally deaf subjects for whom American Sign Language (ASL) is the principal means of communication. A suffix effect was observed when an ASL sign was suffixed to a list of ASL signs (Experiment 1), and when a line drawing of an ASL sign was suffixed to a list of line drawings of ASL signs (Experiment 3). The suffix effect was a diminished magnitude when a printed English word was suffixed to a list of printed words (Experiment 2). The findings of Experiment 1 and 3 argue conclusively against the suffix effect resulting solely from sensory store differences. Additionally, the results of Experiment 3 argue conclusively against explanation of the effect as arising solely from differences in the processing of "static" versus "changing-state" input.