Do deaf people process thought as hearing people sometimes do with "sounds", or purely as symbols?

Xfate, I hope you're not saying that deaf people are unable to communication otherwise you should find new field of study.

I'm deaf. Deaf people usually think in more graphic way. For example if you say "I'm going to store" they will think in mini movie of you walk into a store.

Which is why many of them are very good at seeing details, plans thing out, etc... Many deaf people I know learn how to build things on their own without any books or teachers.

I think it is the same situation as those children who are locked away through most of their lives without human interaction. In these cases, when they do not learn any sort of language, they wouldn't process thoughts with words or the sounds of words, because they would never have learned to associate the sound of a word with a meaning, but they have still processed thoughts through this time. So my opinion is that it would be something more similiar to symbols, but probably not that obvious.

ninedemonsgod - That's really not what I said, and I'm not entirely sure how you got that out of this. One of my best friends growing up had a little sister who was deaf, so I know full well that deaf people can communicate. All I was saying is that those that are completely deaf, because they do not hear, would not think in terms of the sounds of words, and that instead it would be in symbols and images, which actually close to what you said.

I was just wondering this the other day. Hearing people think in terms of words and sentences. If a person was born deaf and has never heard spoken words, how do they think? In images?

I'm guessing here...

they are taught what movements the mouth makes for certain syllables - so maybe instead of sounds or symbols - it's imagining lip movement or "feeling" the word.

Great question!!

I would think as symbols or images. When you learn a foreign language you think in that language as you get more proficient not in your native tongue and then convert to the foreign language.

Similar concepts?

I believe it would be in symbols. They can read so maybe when they think they are picturing text words...maybe.