American Sign Language or even simple gestures are processed by deaf people in the part of the brain that is used for spoken language, says international research headed up by a Dalhousie University neuroscientist.

Using functional magnetic resonance imaging, Dr. Aaron Newman, an associate professor with the Halifax university’s department of psychology and neuroscience, and collaborators, Dr. Ted Supalla and Dr. Elissa Newport from Georgetown University, student Nina Fernandez and Dr. Daphne Bavelier from the universities of Geneva and Rochester, were able to show those who are congenitally deaf process signs and gestures in the left hemisphere of the brain.

Those test subjects who were not deaf and not users of sign language processed the information in the portion of the brain used to process human movement.

“It is a basic science study, with no immediate implications for people in the area of health,” Newman said in an interview Wednesday.

However, it does give credence and stature to the importance of American Sign Language and proves it is a language. More.

See: The Chronicle Herald

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