Developmental changes in neural activity to familiar words and gestures.

Full Abstract

Infants younger than 20 months of age interpret both words and symbolic gestures as object names. Later in development words and gestures take on divergent communicative functions. Here, we examined patterns of brain activity to words and gestures in typically developing infants at 18 and 26 months of age. Event-related potentials (ERPs) were recorded during a match/mismatch task. At 18 months, an N400 mismatch effect was observed for pictures preceded by both words and gestures. At 26 months the N400 effect was limited to words. The results provide the first neurobiological evidence showing developmental changes in semantic processing of gestures.

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Author information

Author/s: Sheehan, Elizabeth A (EA); Namy, Laura L (LL); Mills, Debra L (DL);

Affiliation: Department of Psychology, Emory University, 532 N. Kilgo Circle, Atlanta, GA 30322, USA. elizabeth.sheehan(-atsign-)emory.edu

Journal and publication information

Publication Type: Controlled Clinical Trial; Journal Article

Journal: Brain and language (Brain Lang), published in United States. (Language: eng)

Reference: 2007-Jun; vol 101 (issue 3) : pp 246-59

Dates: Created 2007/05/29; Completed 2007/08/29;

PMID: 17250885, status: MEDLINE (last retrieval date: 12/26/2008)

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