Berlin Gesture Center | Interdisziplinäres BGC-Kolloquium
Vortrag von:
Henning
Holle, Thomas
C. Gunter, Shirley-Ann
Rüschemeyer, Andreas Hennenlotter (Max-Planck-Institute of Human Cognitive
and Brain Sciences, Leipzig), and Marco
Iacoboni (Ahmanson-Lovelace Brain Mapping Center, Los Angeles):
Neural correlates of the processing of co-speech gestures: an experiment using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI)
Freitag, 2. Februar 2007, 19 Uhr, Boltzmannstr. 3 (Raum 1105), 14195 Berlin (U-Bahnhof Thielplatz)
In face-to-face conversation, speech is often accompanied by gestures. For
example, speakers illustrate certain contents by means of iconic gestures. These
are hand movements that bear a formal relationship to the semantic contents
of speech. The meaning of an iconic gesture is determined both by its form as
well as by the speech context in which it is performed. Thus, understanding
an iconic gesture requires a listener to integrate auditory and visual information.
From a neurocognitive perspective, an important question is what brain area
houses the integration of gesture and speech. A substantial number of recent
studies conjectures that the superior temporal sulcus (STS) is particulary involved
in audio-visual integration processes, ranging from rather simple mapping processes
on a form level (e.g. integration of lip movements and their corresponding speech
sounds) to more complex semantic mapping processes, such as the integration
of pictures of animals and their corresponding sounds. On the basis of recent
fMRI data, I will argue that the left posterior STS is also involved in the
integration of gesture and speech.