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The Neural Network for Sign Language Comprehension.

Brennan Terhune-Cotter1, Karen Emmorey2

  • 1Joint Doctoral Program in Language and Communicative Disorders, San Diego State University, University of California, San Diego, California, USA.

Language and Linguistics Compass
|September 11, 2025
PubMed
Summary
This summary is machine-generated.

Sign language comprehension involves visual processing in the occipital lobe and temporal regions, activating language networks similar to spoken language processing. This highlights shared and modality-specific brain pathways for language.

Keywords:
bilingualismcognitive science of languagedeafnessneurolinguisticsperceptionsign language comprehensionsupramodal languagevariation

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Area of Science:

  • Neuroscience
  • Linguistics
  • Cognitive Science

Background:

  • Sign languages utilize visual-manual articulators, contrasting with spoken languages' vocal-auditory modality.
  • This difference impacts neural processing, necessitating a review of sign language comprehension networks.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To review the neural network underlying sign language comprehension.
  • To delineate the processing stages from visual input to sentence parsing.

Main Methods:

  • Review of existing literature on sign language neuroscience.
  • Analysis of brain regions involved in visual processing, phonological representation, and semantic-syntactic construction.

Main Results:

  • Visual sign decoding occurs in occipital and posterior temporal regions.
  • Sign-based phonological and lexical-semantic representations are formed in temporal and parietal regions.
  • Higher-level semantic-syntactic processing involves a frontotemporal network overlapping with spoken language networks.

Conclusions:

  • Sign language comprehension recruits a network with both visual-specific and supramodal components.
  • Further research should explore functional roles within specific brain regions for sign language processing.