Neural Basis of Gestural Communication: Evidence from Sign Language

描述（由申请人提供）：这个项目的总体目标是绘制。在过去的几年里，手势处理的神经基础受到了大量的关注，特别是与动作理解的镜像神经元理论有关。该理论指出，手势是通过观察者的运动模拟来理解的。手语为这一问题提供了一个独特的视角，因为它具有极其丰富的手势系统，易于获取（与语音手势相比，语音手势在很大程度上被遮挡在视线之外），并且有机会比较语言和非语言形式的手势处理。在动物模型的视觉手册研究中发现了镜像神经元，而在人类语言中，对“镜像系统”的研究非常集中，手语弥补了这两者之间的差距。镜像系统也具有重要的临床意义，因为镜像系统与从失用症、失语症到自闭症等一系列获得性和发展性疾病有关。如果治疗方法是基于理解的运动模拟模型开发的，那么获得有关这些声明有效性的信息是至关重要的。手语提供了一个理想的试验场。在理论方面，手势处理的背-腹模型指导我们的研究。因此，提议的项目建立在长达数十年的研究手语神经基础的基础上，并有四个具体目标。目的1：利用大尺度损伤缺陷图绘制聋人手语的基本语言功能图。目的2：利用病变和功能磁共振成像方法绘制感知和无意义手势产生之间的关系。目标3：使用损伤和功能磁共振成像方法绘制识别和产生有意义的动作和物体相关手势之间的关系。目的4：利用病变和功能磁共振成像方法绘制哑剧与手势识别和产生之间的关系。

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): The overall aim of this project is to map the. The neural basis of gesture processing has received a great deal of attention in the last several years, particularly in connection with the mirror neuron theory of action understanding. This theory states that gestures are understood via motor simulation in the observer. Sign language provides a unique perspective on this issue given its extremely rich gestural system, its easy accessibility (as opposed to speech gestures which are largely obscured from view), and the opportunity to compare linguistic and non-linguistic forms of gestural processing. Sign language bridges the gap between the visuo-manual studies in animal models where mirror neurons were discovered and human language, where there is a tremendous concentration of research on the "mirror system". There is substantial clinical importance as well, as the mirror system has been implicated in a range of acquired and developmental disorders ranging from apraxia and aphasia to autism. If therapies are being developed based on a motor simulation model of understanding, it is critical to have information regarding the validity of these claims. Sign language provides an ideal testing ground. In terms of theory, a dorsal-ventral model of gestural processing guides our investigations. Thus, the proposed project builds on a decades-long program of investigation into the neural basis of sign language and has four specific aims. Aim 1: Map of basic language functions in deaf signers using large-scale lesion-deficit mapping. Aim 2: Map the relation between perception and production of meaningless gestures using lesion and fMRI approaches. Aim 3: Map the relation between recognition and production of meaningful action and object-related gestures using lesion and fMRI approaches. Aim 4: Map the relation between recognition and production of pantomime vs. signed gestures using lesion and fMRI approaches.