Simultaneous perception of a spoken and a signed language: The brain basis of ASL-English code-blends.

ABSTRACT: Code-blends (simultaneous words and signs) are a unique characteristic of bimodal bilingual communication. Using fMRI, we investigated code-blend comprehension in hearing native ASL-English bilinguals who made a semantic decision (edible?) about signs, audiovisual words, and semantically equivalent code-blends. English and ASL recruited a similar fronto-temporal network with expected modality differences: stronger activation for English in auditory regions of bilateral superior temporal cortex, and stronger activation for ASL in bilateral occipitotemporal visual regions and left parietal cortex. Code-blend comprehension elicited activity in a combination of these regions, and no cognitive control regions were additionally recruited. Furthermore, code-blends elicited reduced activation rela

SUBMITTER: Weisberg J 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5769874 | biostudies-literature | 2015 Aug

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature