title: Neural Basis of Action Understanding: Evidence from Sign Language Aphasia.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  The neural basis of action understanding is a hotly debated issue. The mirror neuron account holds that motor simulation in fronto-parietal circuits is critical to action understanding including speech comprehension, while others emphasize the ventral stream in the temporal lobe. Evidence from speech strongly supports the ventral stream account, but on the other hand, evidence from manual gesture comprehension (e.g., in limb apraxia) has led to contradictory findings.
  
  
  OBJECTIVE
  Here we present a lesion analysis of sign language comprehension. Sign language is an excellent model for studying mirror system function in that it bridges the gap between the visual-manual system in which mirror neurons are best characterized and language systems which have represented a theoretical target of mirror neuron research.
  
  
  METHODS
  Twenty-one life long deaf signers with focal cortical lesions performed two tasks: one involving the comprehension of individual signs and the other involving comprehension of signed sentences (commands). Participants' lesions, as indicated on MRI or CT scans, were mapped onto a template brain to explore the relationship between lesion location and sign comprehension measures.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Single sign comprehension was not significantly affected by left hemisphere damage. Sentence sign comprehension impairments were associated with left temporal-parietal damage. We found that damage to mirror system related regions in the left frontal lobe were not associated with deficits on either of these comprehension tasks.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  We conclude that the mirror system is not critically involved in action understanding.
authors.affiliation: Department of Cognitive Sciences, University of California, Irvine, Irvine, CA 92697.
authors.forename: Corianne
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Rogalsky
authors.forename: Kristin
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Raphel
authors.forename: Vivian
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Tomkovicz
authors.forename: Lucinda
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: O'Grady
authors.forename: Hanna
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Damasio
authors.forename: Ursula
authors.initials: U
authors.lastname: Bellugi
authors.forename: Gregory
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Hickok
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