Regional Cerebral Blood Flow During Sign Language Perception Sarah, Christine & Annette.

Regional Cerebral Blood FlowRegional Cerebral Blood FlowDuring Sign Language During Sign Language

PerceptionPerception

Sarah, Christine &Sarah, Christine &

AnnetteAnnette

OverviewOverview

I.I. IntroductionIntroduction

II.II. Aim of Study Aim of Study

III.III. SubjectsSubjects

IV.IV. MethodMethod

V.V. ConclusionConclusion

IntroductionIntroductionExperimentExperiment

Cerebral activation during sign language Cerebral activation during sign language perception of hearing and deaf persons perception of hearing and deaf persons with deaf parentswith deaf parents

ResultResult

Deaf persons depend more on spatial Deaf persons depend more on spatial informationinformation

Aim of studyAim of study

Signed vs. Spoken LanguageSigned vs. Spoken Language

Similarities: Activation of same Similarities: Activation of same cerebral areascerebral areas

Differences: Involvement of right Differences: Involvement of right hemisphere (deaf people)? hemisphere (deaf people)?

Subjects

Deaf group

•6 persons•Deaf aprents•Monolingual

(Swedish sign language)

Hearing group

•9 persons•Deaf parents

•Bilingual (Swedish signed and

spoken language)

MethodMethod

Course of experimentCourse of experiment

Translated Swedish novel presented Translated Swedish novel presented by deaf man signing on videoby deaf man signing on video

Subjects asked to retell the storySubjects asked to retell the story

Comparison of regional cerebral Comparison of regional cerebral blood flow: Deaf vs. hearing group blood flow: Deaf vs. hearing group

ConclusionConclusionResultsResults

Hearing group: lower mean flow level during sign Hearing group: lower mean flow level during sign languagelanguage

Deaf group: same mean flow level during both Deaf group: same mean flow level during both conditionsconditions

Overall outcomeOverall outcome

Deaf children of deaf parents: Involvement ofDeaf children of deaf parents: Involvement of

right hemisphereright hemisphere

Not early learning of sign language but deafness leadsNot early learning of sign language but deafness leads

to right hemisphere activationto right hemisphere activation