Language, Modality and the Brain

描述(申请人提供)：对手语的研究对于我们理解人类语言的神经生物学，以及我们对耳聋的理解和为聋人设计政策和计划都是至关重要的。我们开发了一种综合的方法来研究视觉-手势通道对在线语言产生的影响，对语言和认知之间的接口的影响，以及对构成语言的神经系统的影响。一系列连贯的实验解决了这些问题。第一节：情态对语言产生的影响。目前，人们对手语者将思维转化为语言表达的心理语言学机制知之甚少，也不清楚言语产生模式是否可以简单地应用于手语。我们将利用不同的心理语言学技术和数据来开发一个手势产生的模型(例如，“指尖”效应；“手滑”，以及监控范例)。我们的目标是解释视觉手动通道的独特方面，这些方面导致手语和语音产生之间的差异。第二部分：视觉-手势语言和视觉-运动认知系统之间的相互作用。手语独特的生物学基础导致了视觉和语言之间以及动作系统和语言产生之间的独特接口。一个目的是确定运动的视觉分析和运动事件的语言表达之间的结构相似之处。另一组研究考察了知觉和动作之间的相互作用，探索了手语加工和语言知识对视觉认知(如表象动量)的影响的可能的“手势知觉运动理论”。从本质上讲，我们将手语作为一种工具来研究认知模块化和互动性的本质。第三部分：语言的功能神经组织。与第一节和第二节平行，我们使用功能磁共振成像(FMRI)来研究a)手势产生的神经系统，b)手势感知的“镜像系统”的可能性，以及c)视觉和手语感知结构相似的神经基础，特别是在运动处理方面。此外，我们继续研究聋人手语者对语言和情绪面部表情知觉的神经基础，重点是负责面部加工的神经区域的语言调节。

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): The investigation of signed languages is crucial to our understanding of the neurobiology of human language, as well as to our understanding of deafness and the design of policies and programs for deaf individuals. We have developed an integrated approach for studying the effects of the visual-gestural modality on on-line language production, on the interface between language and cognition, and on the neural systems that underlie language. A coherent set of experiments addresses each of these issues. Section I: Effects of modality on language production. Currently, very little is known about the psycholinguistic mechanisms that translate thoughts into linguistic expression for signers, and it is unclear whether models of speech production can simply be appropriated for sign language. We will utilize various psycholinguistic techniques and data to develop a model of sign production (e.g., "tip of the fingers" effects; "slips of the hand," and monitoring paradigms). Our aim is to account for unique aspects of the visual manual modality that lead to disparities between sign and speech production. Section II: The interplay between visual-gestural language and visual-motor cognitive systems. The distinct biological basis of sign language results in a unique interface between vision and language and between action systems and language production. One aim is to identify structural parallels between the visual parsing of motion and the linguistic expression of motion events. Another set of studies examines interactions between perception and action, exploring a possible "motor theory of sign perception" account of sign language processing and the effects of linguistic knowledge on visual cognition (e.g., representational momentum). In essence, we use sign language as a tool to investigate the nature of cognitive modularity and interactivity. Section III: The functional neural organization for language. Paralleling Sections I and II, we use functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging (fMRI) to investigate a) the neural systems underlying sign production, b) the possibility of a "mirror system" for sign perception, and c) the neural basis for the structural similarity between vision and sign language perception, specifically with respect to motion processing. In addition, we continue our investigation of the neural substrates underlying the perception of linguistic and emotional facial expressions in deaf signers, focusing on the linguistic modulation of neural regions devoted to face processing.