OpheliaSpeaks

Hi all,
I am a research assistant at my university and the psychologist I work under presented an interesting theory that I would like to explore in research paper for my ASL 4 class.
Because traumas are stored in the occipital lobe and are very visual/iconic, processing them using spoken language requires that the memories be brought forward to the frontal cortex first. What if the language you use is a visual language? (ASL/other signed language) Is the recovery rate different for those who are processing trauma visually because their primary language is visual? What if a hearing person uses ASL or a signed language to process trauma?
Any thoughts/feedback would be greatly appreciated. I grew up hearing till now, but started learning ASL when I was 11 years old. I have often found myself that I prefer signing when dealing with personal, difficult topics, but part of that may be because I don't like to "hear" what I am thinking aloud.
in advance!

Deafness

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jillio

If I am reading your question properly, it would depend upon which area of the brain was traumatized. For instance, traumatic brain injury from stroke that results in Wenike's aphasia does not interfere with the processing of visual language. However, if the trauma was to a part of the brain that affected long term memory as a whole, and one used oral language, then word recall would no doubt be affected, and if one used sign, sign recall for the concept would be affected.

People often find it easier to express personal difficult topics using physical communications. Just watch someone who is talking about a difficult topic that is very emotional for them. They will use more hand gestures, will shift around in their seat, and kick their foot or jiggle their leg. Some of that is because an emotional topic creates anxiety, and physical activity will help to relieve that anxiety. Another reason is that kinesthetic communication tools add emphasis to spoken language, and body language conveys meaning to words. Hope that is what you were looking for.

OpheliaSpeaks

Thanks for the response jillio. I am not referring to brain trauma. I am referring to Post Traumatic Stress Disorder or emotional trauma from assault, abuse, etc. Also, what I need to look into is - is all language processed the same way or is visual language processed differently from spoken languages? Big project I am undertaking. My teacher is excited. She thinks it will be interesting.

jillio

My bad. PTSD is a very different thing. Yes, it is a big project. Let me refer you to a book written by Marc Marschark and his colleagues entitled "Psychology of Deafness" He has reported the findings of many well respected studies, many of which took cognitive testing techniques and applied them to the deaf population. There are studies on differences in short term/long term memory, the way in which a deaf person employs the phonological loop of memory, differences in error types when processing, etc. I think you will find this book very helpful in answering your questions and guiding your research.

OpheliaSpeaks

Thank you VERY much. I will definitely look into the book ASAP.

jillio

YW. If I can be of further help, please let me know. I'm very happy to hear that you are engaging in this research project.

Interpretrator

You will want to look at the works of Ed Klima and Ursula Bellugi. They have done extensive research on this question. One study (or I may be conflating a couple) looked at deaf ASL-using stroke victims who had suffered motor function impairment. It was found that their sign language was not affected (or very minorly) whereas they could not create the same movements in a non-language context.

Their research has provided pretty definitive proof that visual-spatial languages like ASL are processed in the same way, using the same areas of the brain, as spoken language. And many, many studies done with young deaf and hearing children and acquisition of sign and/or speech show almost the exact same developmental pattern no matter what the language.

Hope this helps.

jillio

Agreed. Some of the research of Bellugi and Klimer is included in Marschark's book.