In the book What the Hands Reveal about the Brain, published in 1987 by the MIT Press, the authors J. Poizner, E. Klima and U. Bellugi analyze the consequences of brain damage for deaf patients, whose primary way of communication is sign language. By analyzing them they hope to find a way to help to remediate the impairments, in the long term, but also to get some help to understand the nature of language representation in the brain. Chapter 5 of this book – the part I am occupied with – concentrates on the implications of right-hemisphere lesions for signers of ASL. Right-hemisphere lesions often produce pronounced visuospatial deficits. The question the authors raise is whether consequently linguistic deficits or even clusters of language deficits appear...
Table of Contents
1. Introduction
2. Test Persons
2.1. Sarah M.: The Artist
2.2. Brenda I.: The Keypunch Operator
2.3. Gilbert G.: The Airplane Mechanic
3. Test Results
3.1. A Special Issue in Testing Signers with Right-hemisphere Lesions
3.2. Tests of American Sign Language
4. Brain, Language, and Modality
5. Conclusion
6. Bibliography
7. Appendix
Objectives and Topics
This paper examines the impact of right-hemisphere brain lesions on deaf signers of American Sign Language (ASL). By analyzing specific case studies and test results, the work explores whether such brain damage leads to linguistic deficits or if the deficits remain confined to visuospatial processing, thereby clarifying the functional lateralization of the brain in the context of visual-gestural language.
- Analysis of right-hemisphere lesion effects on ASL users
- Distinction between linguistic and visuospatial deficits
- Evaluation of hemispheric specialization for language
- Comparison of right-lesioned and left-lesioned patient performance
Excerpt from the Book
1. Introduction
In the book What the Hands Reveal about the Brain, published in 1987 by the MIT Press, the authors J. Poizner, E. Klima and U. Bellugi analyze the consequences of brain damage for deaf patients, whose primary way of communication is sign language. By analyzing them they hope to find a way to help to remediate the impairments, in the long term, but also to get some help to understand the nature of language representation in the brain. Chapter 5 of this book – the part I am occupied with – concentrates on the implications of right-hemisphere lesions for signers of ASL. Right-hemisphere lesions often produce pronounced visuospatial deficits. The question the authors raise is whether consequently linguistic deficits or even clusters of language deficits appear.
In order to afford a better understanding of the tests, I should begin by explaining shortly how ASL works. Here I rely on the authority of John C. Marshall. He refers to this issue in the introduction to the above-mentioned book. According to him, ASL is a visual language, unrelated to English, and expressed in a transitory medium (cf. Poizner et al. 1987:XIII). In contrast to spoken or written languages, “the universal grammatical categories and features are realized in a four-dimensional moving medium that places very different constraints on the overt expression of linguistic form.” (Marshall in Poizner et al. 1987:XIV). Three of these dimensions are space, the fourth is time. By this means, the possibilities of ASL are manifold, enabling the signers to express everyday needs, to take part in intellectual discussions, and to produce literature.
Summary of Chapters
1. Introduction: This chapter introduces the research context, focusing on how brain damage affects deaf signers and the specific focus on Chapter 5 of Poizner et al. regarding right-hemisphere lesions.
2. Test Persons: This section presents three individual case studies (Sarah M., Brenda I., and Gilbert G.) detailing their backgrounds, clinical symptoms, and the nature of their brain lesions.
3. Test Results: This chapter details the testing methodologies and the specific cognitive performance of the patients, highlighting the interaction between spatial and linguistic tasks.
4. Brain, Language, and Modality: This section discusses the theoretical implications of the findings, specifically regarding the lateralization of language processing in the brain for visual-gestural modalities.
5. Conclusion: This chapter summarizes that sign language in right-lesioned patients remains intact, identifying the observed impairments as specifically spatial-perceptual rather than linguistic.
6. Bibliography: Lists the sources and literature utilized in the compilation of the paper.
7. Appendix: Provides the visual references and figures derived from the original source material.
Keywords
American Sign Language, ASL, Right-hemisphere lesions, Brain damage, Visuospatial deficits, Hemispatial neglect, Psycholinguistics, Language representation, Cerebral lateralization, Deaf signers, Neurological findings, Cognitive performance, Spatialized syntax, Morphological tests, Sublexical structure
Frequently Asked Questions
What is the primary subject of this paper?
The paper examines how right-hemisphere brain lesions affect deaf signers of American Sign Language and whether these injuries lead to language loss or specific visuospatial impairments.
What are the central thematic areas?
Key themes include the brain's language organization in deaf signers, the nature of hemispatial neglect, the comparison between linguistic and spatial processing, and the distinction between visual-gestural and vocal-auditory language modalities.
What is the main research question?
The research asks if right-hemisphere lesions in ASL signers cause specific linguistic deficits or if such deficits are exclusively limited to visuospatial and perceptual domains.
Which scientific methodology is employed?
The paper utilizes a qualitative analysis based on clinical case studies and testing data presented in the seminal work by Poizner, Klima, and Bellugi, supplemented by comparisons with control subjects.
What does the main body cover?
The body covers individual patient case reports, results from sublexical and morphological testing, and theoretical discussions on how the parietal lobes and other brain structures facilitate the processing of sign language.
Which keywords define this work?
The work is defined by terms such as ASL, Right-hemisphere lesions, Hemispatial neglect, Brain lateralization, and Psycholinguistics.
How does left hemispatial neglect specifically impact Sarah M.'s interaction?
Sarah M. exhibits an unusual eye gaze pattern as a coping mechanism; she tends to ignore the left half of the visual field, which leads her to describe only the right-hand side of pictures or miss objects on the left.
Why are the test results for right-lesioned signers considered a surprising finding?
It is surprising because, despite having profound deficits in processing non-linguistic spatial relations, these patients perform flawlessly on grammatical and phonological sign tasks, showing that their linguistic system remains intact.
- Arbeit zitieren
- Kathrin Ehlen (Autor:in), 2006, Gestural Languages, München, GRIN Verlag, https://www.hausarbeiten.de/document/173788
