title: An fMRI study of perception and action in deaf signers.
abstract: Since the discovery of mirror neurons, there has been a great deal of interest in understanding the relationship between perception and action, and the role of the human mirror system in language comprehension and production. Two questions have dominated research. One concerns the role of Broca's area in speech perception. The other concerns the role of the motor system more broadly in understanding action-related language. The current study investigates both of these questions in a way that bridges research on language with research on manual actions. We studied the neural basis of observing and executing American Sign Language (ASL) object and action signs. In an fMRI experiment, deaf signers produced signs depicting actions and objects as well as observed/comprehended signs of actions and objects. Different patterns of activation were found for observation and execution although with overlap in Broca's area, providing prima facie support for the claim that the motor system participates in language perception. In contrast, we found no evidence that action related signs differentially involved the motor system compared to object related signs. These findings are discussed in the context of lesion studies of sign language execution and observation. In this broader context, we conclude that the activation in Broca's area during ASL observation is not causally related to sign language understanding.
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychological Sciences, Whittier College, Whittier, CA, United states; Department of Cognitive Sciences, University of California, Irvine, CA, United States.
authors.forename: Kayoko
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Okada
authors.affiliation: Department of Speech and Hearing Science, Arizona State University, Tempe, AZ, United States.
authors.forename: Corianne
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Rogalsky
authors.affiliation: Laboratory for Cognitive Neuroscience, The Salk Institute for Biological Studies, San Diego, CA, United States.
authors.forename: Lucinda
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: O'Grady
authors.affiliation: Laboratory for Cognitive Neuroscience, The Salk Institute for Biological Studies, San Diego, CA, United States.
authors.forename: Leila
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Hanaumi
authors.affiliation: Laboratory for Cognitive Neuroscience, The Salk Institute for Biological Studies, San Diego, CA, United States.
authors.forename: Ursula
authors.initials: U
authors.lastname: Bellugi
authors.affiliation: Department of Linguistics, University of California, Davis, CA, United States.
authors.forename: David
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Corina
authors.affiliation: Department of Cognitive Sciences, University of California, Irvine, CA, United States. Electronic address: greg.hickok@uci.edu.
authors.forename: Gregory
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Hickok
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D001921:Brain / Q000503:physiopathology*; D001931:Brain Mapping; D065711:Broca Area / Q000503:physiopathology; D003638:Deafness / Q000503:physiopathology*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008279:Magnetic Resonance Imaging; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009044:Motor Cortex / Q000502:physiology; D010296:Parietal Lobe / Q000503:physiopathology; D010364:Pattern Recognition, Visual / Q000502:physiology*; D011597:Psychomotor Performance; D012660:Semantics; D066191:Sensorimotor Cortex; D012813:Sign Language; D013702:Temporal Lobe / Q000503:physiopathology; D055815:Young Adult
keywords: ASL observation; ASL production; Broca's area; Neuroimaging; Perception and Action; Sign language; fMRI