Berteletti Ilaria, Kimbley Sarah E, Sullivan SaraBeth J, Quandt Lorna C, Miyakoshi Makoto
Ph.D. in Educational Neuroscience Program, Gallaudet University, Washington, DC 20002, USA.
Swartz Center for Computational Neuroscience, Institute for Neural Computation, University of California, San Diego, CA 92093, USA.
Brain Sci. 2022 Jan 22;12(2):145. doi: 10.3390/brainsci12020145.
Does experience with signed language impact the neurocognitive processes recruited by adults solving arithmetic problems? We used event-related potentials (ERPs) to identify the components that are modulated by operation type and problem size in Deaf American Sign Language (ASL) native signers and in hearing English-speaking participants. Participants were presented with single-digit subtraction and multiplication problems in a delayed verification task. Problem size was manipulated in small and large problems with an additional extra-large subtraction condition to equate the overall magnitude of large multiplication problems. Results show comparable behavioral results and similar ERP dissociations across groups. First, an early operation type effect is observed around 200 ms post-problem onset, suggesting that both groups have a similar attentional differentiation for processing subtraction and multiplication problems. Second, for the posterior-occipital component between 240 ms and 300 ms, subtraction problems show a similar modulation with problem size in both groups, suggesting that only subtraction problems recruit quantity-related processes. Control analyses exclude possible perceptual and cross-operation magnitude-related effects. These results are the first evidence that the two operation types rely on distinct cognitive processes within the ASL native signing population and that they are equivalent to those observed in the English-speaking population.
使用手语的经验是否会影响成年人解决算术问题时所涉及的神经认知过程？我们运用事件相关电位（ERP）来识别美国本土手语（ASL）使用者和以英语为母语的听力正常参与者中，受运算类型和问题规模调节的成分。在延迟验证任务中，向参与者呈现个位数减法和乘法问题。通过设置小问题和大问题，并额外增加超大减法条件来操控问题规模，以使大乘法问题的总体量级相等。结果显示，两组在行为结果上具有可比性，ERP分离情况也相似。首先，在问题呈现后约200毫秒观察到早期运算类型效应，这表明两组在处理减法和乘法问题时具有相似的注意力分化。其次，对于240毫秒至300毫秒之间的枕叶后部成分，两组中减法问题随问题规模呈现出相似的调节，这表明只有减法问题会调用与数量相关的过程。对照分析排除了可能的感知和跨运算量级相关效应。这些结果首次证明，这两种运算类型在ASL本土手语使用者群体中依赖于不同的认知过程，并且与在以英语为母语的群体中观察到的过程相当。
