Neural Basis of Gestural Communication: Evidence from Sign Language

描述（由申请人提供）：本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极大的关注，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。手语提供了一个独特的视角，鉴于其极其丰富的手势系统，其容易获得（相对于言语手势，在很大程度上是模糊的视图），并有机会比较语言和非语言形式的手势处理。手语弥补了在动物模型中发现镜像神经元的视觉-手动研究与人类语言之间的差距，在人类语言中，对“镜像系统”的研究非常集中。它在临床上也具有重要意义，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育障碍有关。如果疗法是基于理解的运动模拟模型开发的，那么获得关于这些主张的有效性的信息至关重要。手语提供了一个理想的试验场。在理论方面，背腹模型的手势处理指导我们的调查。因此，拟议的项目建立在对手语神经基础长达数十年的调查计划的基础上，并有四个具体目标。目的1：使用大规模损伤缺陷映射法绘制聋人的基本语言功能图。目的2：使用损伤和功能磁共振成像方法绘制无意义手势的感知和产生之间的关系。目的3：使用损伤和功能磁共振成像方法映射有意义的动作和对象相关的手势的识别和生产之间的关系。目的4：使用损伤和功能磁共振成像方法绘制识别和产生哑剧与手势之间的关系。

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.