The American Sign Language sign for ‘science’ is two closed fists with thumbs angled down, and each hand moves in small circles in opposite directions. Credit: Glenn Harvey In 2016, a summer ...

“We see two directions for growing in,” Fomin said. “The first is to cover more language groups, like British sign language and Japanese sign language.

Several studies have found that hearing people who learn sign languages perform better in tasks requiring spatial transformation abilities – which you might use when taking down directions.