Signed language and human action processing: evidence for functional constraints on the human mirror-neuron system.
David P Corina1, Heather Patterson Knapp
1University of California Davis, Davis, CA, USA. corina@ucdavis.edu
Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences
|December 17, 2008
Summary
Comparing signed and spoken languages reveals core neural systems for communication. Understanding visual language perception requires distinguishing general motion from linguistic meaning in gestures.
Area of Science:
- Neuroscience
- Linguistics
- Cognitive Science
Background:
- Human communication relies on complex neural systems.
- Signed languages offer a unique lens to study linguistic processing independent of modality.
- Understanding visual language perception is crucial for distinguishing action perception from linguistic meaning extraction.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate the neural underpinnings of human communication by comparing signed and spoken languages.
- To differentiate the cognitive demands of processing general human actions versus extracting linguistic meaning from signed languages.
- To explore the relationship between action perception and language processing, particularly concerning mirror-neuron systems.
Main Methods:
- Review of behavioral studies.
- Analysis of functional imaging data.
- Examination of neuropsychological research.
Main Results:
- Data suggest that processing human actions and signed languages involves partially overlapping neural systems.
- There is an incomplete overlap between mirror-neuron systems proposed for action and language.
- Distinguishing general motion processing from linguistic meaning extraction in visual-gestural systems is essential.
Conclusions:
- Core neural systems for linguistic communication can be identified by comparing different language modalities.
- Signed languages provide insights into the neural basis of language that are modality-independent.
- The findings challenge a complete homology between action perception/production and language/social communication systems.
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