The neural correlates for spatial language: Perspective-dependent and -independent relationships in American Sign Language and spoken English

• Published in: Brain and language Vol. 223; p. 105044
• Main Authors: Emmorey, Karen, Brozdowski, Chris, McCullough, Stephen
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Netherlands Elsevier Inc 01.12.2021; Academic Press
• Subjects: American Sign Language; Comprehension; Comprehension - physiology; Deaf; Deafness; English; English language; fMRI; Functional magnetic resonance imaging; Humans; Language; Magnetic Resonance Imaging; Neurolinguistics; Parietal Lobe - diagnostic imaging; Parietal Lobe - physiology; Prepositional phrases; Sentences; Sign Language; Spatial language; United States; United States; fMRI; Sign language; English; Spatial language; Deaf
• ISSN: 0093-934X; 1090-2155; 1090-2155
• DOI: 10.1016/j.bandl.2021.105044

•Spatial relations are expressed by hand locations in ASL and prepositions in English.•fMRI: comprehension of perspective-dependent (PD) & -independent (PI) sentences.•Bilateral SPL activation for PD, but left SPL for PI sentences for both languages.•More SPL activation for ASL for PD sentences due to required spatial transformation.•Overlapping & distinct neural regions support spatial language in sign and speech. In American Sign Language (ASL) spatial relationships are conveyed by the location of the hands in space, whereas English employs prepositional phrases. Using event-related fMRI, we examined comprehension of perspective-dependent (PD) (left, right) and perspective-independent (PI) (in, on) sentences in ASL and audiovisual English (sentence-picture matching task). In contrast to non-spatial control sentences, PD sentences engaged the superior parietal lobule (SPL) bilaterally for ASL and English, consistent with a previous study with written English. The ASL-English conjunction analysis revealed bilateral SPL activation for PD sentences, but left-lateralized activation for PI sentences. The direct contrast between PD and PI expressions revealed greater SPL activation for PD expressions only for ASL. Increased SPL activation for ASL PD expressions may reflect the mental transformation required to interpret locations in signing space from the signer’s viewpoint. Overall, the results suggest both overlapping and distinct neural regions support spatial language comprehension in ASL and English.