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Somatosensory, Motor, and Association Cortex01:23

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Exploring Infant Sensitivity to Visual Language using Eye Tracking and the Preferential Looking Paradigm
06:07

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Published on: May 15, 2019

Motion-sensitive cortex and motion semantics in American Sign Language.

Stephen McCullough1, Ayse Pinar Saygin, Franco Korpics

  • 1Laboratory for Language and Cognitive Neuroscience, San Diego State University, San Diego, CA, USA. mccullough@projects.sdsu.edu

Neuroimage
|July 4, 2012
PubMed
Summary
This summary is machine-generated.

Brain regions sensitive to motion are activated when processing motion described in language. This study shows visual motion in American Sign Language (ASL) sentences also engages motion-sensitive visual areas (MT+).

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Area of Science:

  • Neuroscience
  • Cognitive Science
  • Linguistics

Background:

  • Motion-sensitive brain regions are activated by motion semantics in spoken and written language.
  • Sign languages, like American Sign Language (ASL), use visual motion to convey meaning, raising questions about how the brain processes this dynamic linguistic input.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To investigate if motion-sensitive visual areas (MT+) are modulated by motion semantics in ASL sentences.
  • To determine if the visual motion inherent in ASL affects the processing of motion semantics in MT+.
  • To examine the influence of deafness and ASL experience on neural responses.

Main Methods:

  • Functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) was used to scan deaf and hearing ASL signers.
  • Participants viewed ASL sentences with either motion or static semantics, matched for visual motion.
  • Motion-sensitive visual areas (MT+) and the Fusiform Face Area (FFA) were functionally localized.

Main Results:

  • Static sentences engaged left parietal cortex more than motion sentences, consistent with spatial language processing.
  • Motion sentences elicited greater activation in the MT+ region for both deaf and hearing signers compared to static sentences.
  • Deafness did not alter MT+ modulation by motion semantics, but hearing signers showed overall higher MT+ activity, possibly due to ASL usage.

Conclusions:

  • Top-down modulation of motion-sensitive cortex by linguistic semantics is not disrupted by the visual motion present in sign language.
  • The brain can process motion semantics in ASL within motion-sensitive visual areas, irrespective of the visual complexity of the signs themselves.