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Talking with hands: body representation in British Sign Language users.
Federico Brusa1, Lukas Kretzschmar1, Francesca Giulia Magnani2
1Psychology - School of Social Sciences, Heriot-Watt University, Edinburgh Campus, UK.
Experimental Brain Research
|January 4, 2021
Summary
This study investigated body representation in British Sign Language (BSL) learners and tango dancers. Findings suggest that the linguistic use of the body does not necessarily alter cognitive body representation components.
Area of Science:
- Cognitive Neuroscience
- Linguistics
- Embodied Cognition
Background:
- Body representation (BR) encompasses mental information about the physical body, crucial for daily function and communication.
- Signed languages (SLs) utilize body parts, like hands, for communication, raising questions about BR's cognitive underpinnings.
- The study explores whether the communicative demands of SLs impact BR differently than non-linguistic body expertise.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate if the communicative function in signed languages influences cognitive aspects of body representation.
- To compare body representation in British Sign Language (BSL) learners with individuals possessing non-linguistic body expertise (tango dancers) and controls.
- To determine if linguistic body use overwrites physical constraints in body representation.
Main Methods:
- Comparative study involving BSL learners, tango dancers, and control subjects.
- Utilized the Body Esteem Scale (BES), Hand Laterality Task (HLT), and Mental Motor Chronometry (MMC).
- Included control tasks for visual imagery to isolate cognitive effects.
Main Results:
- No significant differences in explored BR parameters were found between SL users and other groups.
- Implicit parameters clearly distinguished tango dancers from control subjects, indicating expertise effects.
- Neither visual imagery tasks nor the BES revealed differences across the groups.
Conclusions:
- Cognitive components of body representation were not significantly influenced by the linguistic use of the body in BSL learners.
- Non-linguistic body expertise, as seen in tango dancers, showed distinct effects on implicit parameters.
- This research provides initial evidence that communicative and non-communicative body expertise may impact BR differently.
Keywords:
Body representationBody schemaBritish Sign LanguageExpertiseMental imageryMotor imageryMotor skillsMore Related Videos
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