ABSTRACT

Prior research suggests that the amount of experience an individual has with an action influences the degree to which the sensorimotor systems of their brain are involved in the subsequent perception of those actions. Less is known about how action experience and semantic knowledge impact sensorimotor involvement during imitation. To address this question, we collected electroencephalograms (EEG) while deaf signers and hearing non-signers imitated one-handed and two-handed ASL signs. During observation, deaf signers showed early differentiation in alpha/beta power between the one- and two-handed sign conditions, whereas hearing non-signers showed this discrimination only later. During sign imitation, deaf signers showed desynchronisation of alpha/beta EEG signals, while hearing non-signers showed increased power. Thus, in an imitative context, deaf signers engage anticipatory motor preparation in advance of action production, while hearing non-signers engage slower, more memory-related processes to help them complete the complex task.

摘要

先前的研究表明，一个人对某个动作的体验程度会影响他们大脑的感觉运动系统在随后对这些动作的感知中的参与程度。对动作经验和语义知识如何影响模仿过程中的感觉运动参与知之甚少。为了解决这个问题，我们收集了脑电图 (EEG)，而聋哑手语者和听力非手语者模仿单手和双手 ASL 手语。在观察过程中，聋哑手语者在单手手语和双手手语条件之间的 alpha/beta 能力上表现出早期分化，而听力非手语者仅在稍后才表现出这种区分。在模仿手势过程中，聋哑手语者表现出 alpha/beta 脑电图信号的不同步，而听力非手语者则表现出增强的力量。因此，在模仿语境中，