Areas of Brain Responsible for Understanding American Sign Language

Hemispheric Lateralization of Language Receptive Function in the Deaf and in Hearing Individuals Who Learned ASL as First Language

The human brain is made up of two halves called hemispheres. Each half of the brain is responsible for processing different kinds of information. Previous neuroimaging studies have shown that both the right and left hemispheres are involved when processing information given in American Sign Language (ASL). However, the study also showed that when processing spoken language, the left hemisphere was mostly involved.

Researchers would like to find out more about how the brain processes American Sign Language (ASL). This study is designed to determine if the right hemisphere is necessary for normal understanding of ASL.

Study Overview

Status

Completed

Detailed Description

The purpose of this protocol is to determine if the right hemisphere activation associated with perception of American Sign Language (ASL) in deaf subjects and in normal hearing individuals raised by deaf parents (who learned ASL before written English) is necessary for appropriate understanding of ASL.

Study Type

Observational

Enrollment

30

Contacts and Locations

This section provides the contact details for those conducting the study, and information on where this study is being conducted.

Study Locations

    • Maryland
      • Bethesda, Maryland, United States, 20892
        • National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke (NINDS)

Participation Criteria

Researchers look for people who fit a certain description, called eligibility criteria. Some examples of these criteria are a person's general health condition or prior treatments.

Eligibility Criteria

Ages Eligible for Study

  • Child
  • Adult
  • Older Adult

Accepts Healthy Volunteers

No

Genders Eligible for Study

All

Description

Subject age between 18 and 65 years.

Adult hearing offsprings of deaf parents.

Congenitally deaf individuals.

Intact hearing volunteers.

No subjects with personal or family history of seizures or other neurological or demyelinating disorders.

No pregnant women tested after urine pregnancy test.

No subjects with severe coronary disease.

No subjects with metal in the cranium except mouth.

No subjects with intracardiac lines and implanted medication pumps.

No subjects with increased intracranial pressure as evaluated by clinical means.

No subjects with cardiac pacemakers.

No subjects with an intake of neuroleptics.

Study Plan

This section provides details of the study plan, including how the study is designed and what the study is measuring.

How is the study designed?

Collaborators and Investigators

This is where you will find people and organizations involved with this study.

Publications and helpful links

The person responsible for entering information about the study voluntarily provides these publications. These may be about anything related to the study.

Study record dates

These dates track the progress of study record and summary results submissions to ClinicalTrials.gov. Study records and reported results are reviewed by the National Library of Medicine (NLM) to make sure they meet specific quality control standards before being posted on the public website.

Study Major Dates

Study Start

March 1, 1998

Study Completion

December 1, 2000

Study Registration Dates

First Submitted

November 3, 1999

First Submitted That Met QC Criteria

December 9, 2002

First Posted (Estimate)

December 10, 2002

Study Record Updates

Last Update Posted (Estimate)

March 4, 2008

Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria

March 3, 2008

Last Verified

November 1, 1999

More Information

This information was retrieved directly from the website clinicaltrials.gov without any changes. If you have any requests to change, remove or update your study details, please contact register@clinicaltrials.gov. As soon as a change is implemented on clinicaltrials.gov, this will be updated automatically on our website as well.

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