title: Functional correlates of increasing gestural articulatory fluency using a miniature second-language approach.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  Gesture-based second languages have become an important tool in the rehabilitation of language-impaired subpopulations. Acquiring the ability to use manual gestures as a means to construct meaningful utterances places unique demands on the brain. This study identified changes in the blood oxygen level-dependent (BOLD) signal associated with the development of gestural fluency using a miniature second-language-based approach.
  
  
  METHODS
  Twelve healthy right-handed adults (19-31 years) were trained to produce sequences of meaningful gestures over a period of 2 weeks. Functional magnetic resonance imaging was used to identify brain regions involved in actual and imagined production of meaningful sentences both before (nonfluent production) and after (fluent production) practice.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Brain areas showing learning-dependent increases in activity associated with the development of fluency included sites associated with language articulation, while learning-related decreases in the BOLD signal were observed in cortical networks associated with motor imagery, and native language processing.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  These findings provide novel insights regarding the neural basis of fluency that could inform the design of interventions for treating speech disorders characterized by the loss of fluency.
authors.affiliation: Department of Exercise Science, University of South Carolina, Columbia, S.C., USA.
authors.forename: Roger D
authors.initials: RD
authors.lastname: Newman-Norlund
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D001921:Brain / Q000503:physiopathology*; D005260:Female; D005868:Gestures; D006801:Humans; D007092:Imagination; D007806:Language Disorders / Q000503:physiopathology* / Q000628:therapy*; D008279:Magnetic Resonance Imaging; D008297:Male; D019303:Multilingualism; D009415:Nerve Net / Q000503:physiopathology; D010100:Oxygen / Q000097:blood; D012813:Sign Language; D013342:Stuttering / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000503:physiopathology* / Q000628:therapy*; D055815:Young Adult
chemical_list: D010100:Oxygen