If nonverbal decoding skills are impaired by cultural expectations and training, the deaf person will be further isolated from social participation. To identify factors that might account for inaccurate nonverbal decoding of deaf subjects, a study compared the decoding abilities of three groups of deaf college students (N=76) using R. Rosenthal's Profile Nonverbal Sensitivity (PONS) test. The investigation defined three independent variables (gender, family communication mode, and type of elementary school) and hypothesized higher test scores for: (1) females than for males, (2) subjects whose family communication mode was signing rather than speech or writing, and (3) subjects who attended mainstream rather than residential elementary schools. The results supported none of the hypotheses; an analysis of variance indicated no significant differences within these groups, a finding that contradicts previous research. However, in combination some variables did influence nonverbal decoding on the PONS test; for example, in residential schools subjects whose family communication mode was sign language scored higher than subjects whose family communication mode was oral/writing, while the reverse was true in mainstream schools. The results of the investigation recommend that to obtain a more accurate picture of the influence of enculturation upon deaf children, future research should use subjects more carefully selected for the variables of family communication mode and type of elementary school, and the test should be given to subjects whose parents are also deaf and to both residential and public school subjects. Further, the subjects should have attended the same type of school for their entire elementary school years. (JG)