Neural Basis of Sign Language from Lesion Mapping

描述(由申请人提供)：手语提供了一种理解感觉-运动对语言神经组织的影响的方法。本提案的目标是利用现代病变缺陷图揭示手语的神经基础。这不仅将回答关于手语的神经基础和相关过程的一些基本问题，还将解决关于形成语言组织的感觉-运动力的问题，而且还将提供关于手语失语的临床解剖学相关性的迫切需要的信息。我们提出了三个具体目标。目的1：用定量病变-症状图方法确定与手语失语相关的整体病变模式是否与口语相似。目的：使用定量病变-症状定位方法，绘制与手语产生、手语理解和相关功能的更细粒度测量相关的病变模式。目的3：用损伤法评估手势命名能力和工作记忆的神经基础。公共卫生相关性：NIDCD使命的一个重要方面是进行研究，以增加对语言和沟通障碍的理解和治疗，特别是在耳聋和手语方面。在我们之前的研究之前，相对较少的研究针对由于脑损伤而导致的手语障碍；这里提出的使用现代损伤症状方法的计划为理解和治疗聋人手语障碍提供了重要的新工具。这将在广泛的公共卫生领域产生影响，并直接使临床医生、教育工作者和照顾患有脑损伤和/或语言障碍的聋人手语者的个人受益。

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): Sign language provides a means to understand the sensory-motor influences on the neural organization of language. The goals of the present proposal are to uncover the neural basis of sign language using modern lesion-deficit mapping. This will not only answer some fundamental questions about the neural basis of sign language and related processes and address questions about the sensory-motor forces that shape language organization generally, but will also provide much needed information on the clinical-anatomic correlates of sign language aphasia. We propose three specific aims. Aim 1: To determine whether the overall lesion pattern associated with sign language aphasia is similar to that found for spoken language using quantitative lesion-symptom mapping methods. Aim 2: To map the lesion pattern associated with more fine-grained measures of sign language production, sign language comprehension, and related function using quantitative lesion-symptom mapping methods. Aim 3: To assess the neural basis of naming ability and working memory for signs using the lesion method. PUBLIC HEALTH RELEVANCE: An important aspect of the mission of NIDCD is research that leads to increased understanding and treatment of language and communication disorders, particularly with respect to deafness and sign language. Relatively little research has targeted the breakdown of sign language as a result of brain lesions until our previous studies; the program proposed here using modern lesion-symptom approaches provides important new tools for the understanding and treatment of language disorders in deaf signers. This will have implications across a wide range of public health domains and directly benefits clinicians, educators, and individuals caring for deaf signers with brain lesions and/or language disorders.