Hemispheric specialization for sign language

Most studies on sign lateralization provide inconclusive results about the role of the two hemispheres in sign language processing, whereas the cases reported in the clinical literature show sign language impairment only following left hemisphere damage, suggesting a similar neural organization to spoken languages. By discriminating different levels of processing, a tachistoscopic study found that in deaf subjects matches of sign language handshapes based on equivalence of meaning are processed faster in the right visual field, thus demonstrating a left hemisphere superiority.

[1]  Y. Marignac,et al.  Note , 1951, Neurochemistry International.

[2]  U. Bellugi,et al.  The linguistic basis of left hemisphere specialization. , 1992, Science.

[3]  D. Boles.  Fast visual generation: Its nature and chronometrics , 1992, Perception & psychophysics.

[4]  F. Allard,et al.  Visual hemifield differences depend on typeface , 1976, Brain and Language.

[5]  A. Lerner,et al.  Neurotrauma , 1990, Neurology.

[6]  D B Boles,et al.  Variability in letter-matching asymmetry , 1981, Perception & psychophysics.

[7]  D B Boles,et al.  Visual and phonetic codes and the process of generation in letter matching. , 1983, Journal of experimental psychology. Human perception and performance.

[8]  U. Bellugi,et al.  Dissociation between linguistic and nonlinguistic gestural systems: A case for compositionality , 1992, Brain and Language.

[9]  C. Umilta,et al.  Hemispheric asymmetries in a letter classification task with different typefaces , 1980, Brain and Language.

[10]  V. Florian,et al.  Evidence of minimal cerebral asymmetries for the processing of English words and American sign language in the congenitally deaf , 1976, Neuropsychologia.

[11]  Geoff Sanders,et al.  Cerebral lateralization of language in deaf and hearing people , 1989, Brain and Language.

[12]  B. Wilson.  A comparison of deaf, normal, and brain damaged adults on a tachistoscopic task , 1983, Brain and Language.

[13]  C. Umilta,et al.  Vowel processing in the left and right visual fields , 1982, Brain and Language.

[14]  C. Umilta,et al.  Laterality effects, levels of processing, and stimulus properties. , 1980, Journal of experimental psychology. Human perception and performance.

[15]  Robert Plomin,et al.  Brain maturation and cognitive development: Comparative and cross-cultural perspectives , 1991 .

[16]  R. Markman,et al.  Lateral cerebral differences in the deaf in response to linguistic and nonlinguistic stimuli , 1977, Brain and Language.

[17]  M I Posner,et al.  Chronometric analysis of classification. , 1967, Psychological review.