Neuroelectrical and behavioral correlates of constructed action recognition in Finnish Sign language

Area of Science:

• Cognitive Neuroscience
• Linguistics
• Psychology

Background:

• The interaction between language and attention is well-studied in spoken languages but less understood in signed languages.
• Constructed Action (CA) is a meaning-making strategy involving enactment, offering a novel approach to study attention in signed language comprehension.

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate the attentional mechanisms involved in signed language comprehension using CA.
• To identify the sequence of processes in CA processing and potential differences in processing its types.
• To explore the links between CA detection brain mechanisms, behavior, and attention network components.

Main Methods:

• Electrophysiological correlates (N1, P2, N2s, P3s) of CA detection were measured in deaf and hearing L1 signers using an oddball task.
• The Attention Network Test (ANT) was administered to assess attention components.
• Brain activity was analyzed in relation to behavioral manifestations and CA types (overt CA vs. PT-only signs).

Main Results:

• CA detection involves both automatic (N1, P2) and attention-based (N2s, P3s) neural processes in all signers.
• Overt CA signs elicited more negative N2 posterior bilateral activity compared to PT-only signs.
• All CA types showed more positive P3a activity than PT-only signs, indicating distinct attentional processing.
• No significant associations were found with the ANT components.

Conclusions:

• Specific attentional engagement in CA detection is modulated by the degree of enactment and saliency.
• This research provides novel insights into the neural interplay between attentional control and signed language processing, particularly CA.
• The findings highlight the role of attention in processing meaning-making strategies within signed languages.