Completely anecdotal, but our campus ASL interpreter has taught stroke victims with language impairments to use a limited set of signs, and she stressed that, at best, some have been able to learn about 100-150 signs but do not use ASL as a language only as symbolic representation.
The funny thing is that I learned this when asked a similar question in class, I didn't have an answer but my deaf student indicated that the ASL interpreter might know and that is what she said. I also know there are some interesting studies of brain function during use of ASL - sorry no references at hand. Doug Doug Peterson, Ph.D. Acting Director of the Honors Program Associate Professor of Psychology 414 E. Clark The University of South Dakota Vermillion SD 57069 e-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Honors Program: (605) 677-5223 Dept. of Psychology: (605) 677-5295 -----Original Message----- From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Sent: Wednesday, February 09, 2005 8:32 AM To: Teaching in the Psychological Sciences Subject: student question We were discussing Broca's and Wernicke's areas last night in Intro. and how damage to Broca's area means the person has trouble with speaking a language and damage to Wernicke's area means the person has trouble understanding spoken language. I was under the impression that with "language" we are talking about English, Spanish, French, etc., but a student asked if the person with the damage to Broca's area can make up their own sort of language as a way to communicate. Also, with Wernicke's area can the person relearn a language to understand what is being said to him/her? I guess it all comes down to the actual definition of language. Nina Dr. Nina L. Tarner 325 Math/Psychology Building Department of Psychology UMBC Baltimore, MD. 21250 410-455-3704 --- You are currently subscribed to tips as: [EMAIL PROTECTED] To unsubscribe send a blank email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] --- You are currently subscribed to tips as: archive@jab.org To unsubscribe send a blank email to [EMAIL PROTECTED]
