Comparing sentence superiority effects in deaf and hearing readers: the role of syntactic and visuo-attentional processing

Reading requires the integration of linguistic and visuo-attentional information to support efficient word identification within context. The sentence superiority effect (SSE) illustrates this integration, showing that words are recognized more accurately when embedded in a grammatical sentence than in a scrambled sequence. While well established in hearing readers, the extent to which deaf readers exhibit this effect remains unclear. The present study examined the SSE in 18 deaf and 20 hearing adults using the Rapid Parallel Visual Presentation (RPVP) paradigm. Participants identified target words presented within grammatical or scrambled four-word sequences. Both groups showed a significant SSE, indicating that deaf readers, like hearing readers, can exploit syntactic context to enhance word recognition. The SSE even tended to be larger in the deaf group, suggesting greater reliance on top-down syntactic and contextual cues. Hearing participants moreover showed the expected central position advantage, whereas deaf readers exhibited more homogeneous performance across positions, consistent with a broader and more evenly distributed allocation of visual attention. Overall, the findings reveal both shared and distinct reading mechanisms across groups, highlighting the adaptive nature of reading strategies in deaf individuals.