Skip to main content

Thank you for visiting nature.com. You are using a browser version with limited support for CSS. To obtain the best experience, we recommend you use a more up to date browser (or turn off compatibility mode in Internet Explorer). In the meantime, to ensure continued support, we are displaying the site without styles and JavaScript.

  • Article
  • Published:

A critical period for right hemisphere recruitment in American Sign Language processing

Nature Neuroscience volume 5, pages 76–80 (2002)Cite this article

Abstract

Signed languages such as American Sign Language (ASL) are natural languages that are formally similar to spoken languages, and thus present an opportunity to examine the effects of language structure and modality on the neural organization for language. Native learners of spoken languages show predominantly left-lateralized patterns of neural activation for language processing, whereas native learners of ASL show extensive right hemisphere (RH) and LH activation. We demonstrate that the RH angular gyrus is active during ASL processing only in native signers (hearing, ASL-English bilinguals) but not in those who acquired ASL after puberty (hearing, native English speakers). This is the first demonstration of a 'sensitive' or 'critical' period for language in an RH structure. This has implications for language acquisition and for understanding age-related changes in neuroplasticity more generally.

This is a preview of subscription content, access via your institution

Access options

Buy this article

  • Purchase on Springer Link
  • Instant access to full article PDF
Buy now

Prices may be subject to local taxes which are calculated during checkout

Figure 1: Activations within anatomically specified regions of interest (ROIs) in response to written English sentences relative to consonant strings.
Figure 2: Activations within regions of interest (ROIs) in response to ASL sentences relative to meaningless sign-like gestures.
Figure 3: Differences in activation between native- and late-learning ASL signers, for English sentences (top) and for ASL sentences (bottom).
Figure 4

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  1. Lenneberg, E. H. Biological Foundations of Language (Wiley, New York, New York, 1967).

    Book  Google Scholar 

  2. Curtis, S. Genie: A Psycholinguistic Study of a Modern-Day 'Wild Child' (Academic, New York, New York, 1977).

    Google Scholar 

  3. Newport, E. L. Maturational constraints on language learning. Cogn. Sci. 14, 11–28 (1990).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  4. Johnson, J. & Newport, E. Critical period effects in second language learning: the influence of maturational state on the acquisition of English as a second language. Cognit. Psychol. 21, 60–99 (1989).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  5. Weber-Fox, C. M. & Neville, H. J. Maturational constraints on functional specializations for language-processing: ERP and behavioral evidence in bilingual speakers. J. Cogn. Neurosci. 8, 231–256 (1996).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  6. Flege, J. E., Yeni-Komishan, G. H. & Liu, S. Age constraints on second-language acquisition. J. Mem. Lang. 41, 78–104 (1999).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  7. Oyama, S. A sensitive period for the acquisition of a nonnative phonological system. J. Psycholing. Res. 5, 261–285 (1976).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  8. Penfield, W. & Roberts, L. Speech Mechanisms of the Brain (Princeton Univ. Press, Princeton, New Jersey, 1959).

    Google Scholar 

  9. Paradis, M. in Aphasia in Atypical Populations (eds. Coppens, P., Lebrun, Y. & Basso, A.) 35–66 (Lawrence Erlbaum, London, UK, 1998).

    Google Scholar 

  10. Ojemann, G. A. & Whitaker, H. A. The bilingual brain. Arch. Neurol. 35, 409–412 (1978).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  11. Klein, D., Milner, B., Zatorre, R., Zhoa, V. & Nikelski, J. Cerebral organization in bilinguals: a PET study of Chinese-English verb generation. Neuroreport 10, 2841–2846 (1999).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  12. Chee, M. W. L., Tan, E. W. L. & Thiel, T. Mandarin and English single word processing studied with fMRI. J. Neurosci. 19, 3050–3056 (1999).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  13. Kim, K. H. S., Relkin, N. R., Lee, K.-M. & Hirsch, J. Distinct cortical areas associated with native and second languages. Nature 388, 171–174 (1997).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  14. Perani, D. et al. Brain processing of native and foreign languages. Neuroreport 7, 2439–2444 (1996).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  15. Dehaene, S. et al. Anatomical variability in the cortical representation of first and second language. Neuroreport 8, 3809–3815 (1997).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  16. Perani, D. et al. The bilingual brain: proficiency and age of acquisition of the second language. Brain 121, 1841–1852 (1998).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  17. Neville, H. J. et al. Cerebral organization for language in deaf and hearing subjects: biological constraints and effects of experience. Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 95, 922–929 (1998).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  18. Bavelier, D. et al. Hemispheric specialization for English and ASL: left invariance—right variability. Neuroreport 9, 1537–1542 (1998).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  19. Hickock, G., Bellugi, U. & Klima, E. S. What's right about the neural organization of sign language? A perspective on recent neuroimaging results. Trends Cogn. Sci. 2, 465–468 (1998).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  20. Corina, D. in Aphasia in Atypical Populations (eds. Coppens, P., Lebrun, Y. & Basso, A.) 261–309 (Lawrence Erlbaum, London, UK, 1998).

    Google Scholar 

  21. Hickock, G. et al. Discourse deficits following right hemisphere damage in deaf signers. Brain Lang. 66, 233–248 (1999).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  22. Hickock, G., Bellugi, U. & Klima, E. S. The neurobiology of sign language and its implications for the neural basis of language. Nature 381, 699–702 (1996).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  23. Soderfelt, B., Ronnberg, J. & Risberg, J. Regional cerebral blood flow in sign language users. Brain Lang. 46, 59–68 (1994).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  24. Neville, H. J. et al. Neural systems mediating American Sign Language: effects of sensory experience and age of acquisition. Brain Lang. 57, 285–308 (1997).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  25. Zola-Morgan, S. & Kritchevsky, M., eds. Spatial Cognition: Brain Bases and Development (Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, Hillsdale, New Jersey, 1988).

    Google Scholar 

  26. Klima, E. & Bellugi, U. The Signs of Language (Harvard Univ. Press, Cambridge, Massachusetts, 1979).

    Google Scholar 

  27. Decety, J. et al. Brain activity during observation of actions. Influence of action content and subject's strategy. Brain 120, 1763–1777 (1997).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  28. Grezes, J., Costes, N. & Decety, J. The effects of learning and intention on the neural network involved in the perception of meaningless actions. Brain 122, 1875–1887 (1999).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  29. Wise, R. et al. Distribution of cortical neural networks involved in word comprehension and retrieval. Brain 114, 1803–1817 (1991).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  30. Demonet, J.-F. et al. The anatomy of phonological and semantic processing in normal subjects. Brain 115, 1753–1768 (1992).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  31. Zatorre, R. J., Evans, A. C., Meyer, E. & Gjedde, A. Lateralization of phonetic and pitch discrimination in speech processing. Science 256, 846–849 (1992).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  32. Friederici, A. D., Meyer, M. & von Cramon, D. Y. Auditory language comprehension: an event-related fMRI study on the processing of syntactic and lexical information. Brain Lang. 74, 289–300 (2000).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  33. Turner, R. et al. Functional mapping of the human visual cortex at 4 and 1.5 tesla using deoxygenation contrast EPI. Magn. Reson. Med. 29, 277–279 (1993).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  34. Rademacher, J., Galaburda, A. M., Kennedy, D. N., Filipek, P. A. & Caviness, V. S. Human cerebral cortex: localization, parcellation, and morphometry with magnetic resonance imaging. J. Cogn. Neurosci. 4, 352–374 (1992).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  35. Bandettini, P. A., Jesmanowicz, A., Wong, E. C. & Hyde, J. S. Processing strategies for time-course data sets in functional MRI of the human brain. Magn. Reson. Med. 30, 161–173 (1993).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

Download references

Acknowledgements

This work was supported by NIH NIDCD DC00128 (H.J.N.), NIDCD R29 DCO3099 (D.C.), an NSERC (Canada) PGS (A.J.N.) and a Charles A. Dana Foundation grant (D.B.). We are grateful to the following people for their help in this project: R. Balaban for providing us with access to the MRI facilities at the NIH NHLBI; V. Clark and A. Braun for subject recruiting and screening; A. Tomann and M. Baker for help with data collection; T. Mitchell and D. Waligura for help with data analysis.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Psychology, 1227 University of Oregon, Eugene, 97403-1227, Oregon, USA

    Aaron J. Newman & Helen J. Neville

  2. Dept. of Brain and Cognitive Sciences, University of Rochester, Rochester, 14627-0268, New York, USA

    Daphne Bavelier

  3. Department of Psychology, 135 Guthrie Hall, University of Washington, Seattle, 98195-1525, Washington, USA

    David Corina

  4. FMRIB Centre, John Radcliffe Hospital, Headington, Oxford, UK

    Peter Jezzard

Authors
  1. Aaron J. Newman
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Daphne Bavelier
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. David Corina
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  4. Peter Jezzard
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  5. Helen J. Neville
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Aaron J. Newman.

Ethics declarations

Competing interests

The authors declare no competing financial interests.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Newman, A., Bavelier, D., Corina, D. et al. A critical period for right hemisphere recruitment in American Sign Language processing. Nat Neurosci 5, 76–80 (2002). https://doi.org/10.1038/nn775

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/nn775

This article is cited by

Search

Advanced search

Quick links

Nature Briefing

Sign up for the Nature Briefing newsletter — what matters in science, free to your inbox daily.

Get the most important science stories of the day, free in your inbox. Sign up for Nature Briefing