Neural Language Processing in Adolescent First-Language Learners: Longitudinal Case Studies in American Sign Language

One key question in neurolinguistics is the extent to which the neural processing system for language requires linguistic experience during early life to develop fully. We conducted a longitudinal anatomically constrained magnetoencephalography (aMEG) analysis of lexico-semantic processing in 2 deaf adolescents who had no sustained language input until 14 years of age, when they became fully immersedin American Sign Language. After 2 to 3 years of language,the adolescents'neural responses to signed words were highly atypical, localizing mainly to right dorsal frontoparietal regions and often responding more stronglytosemanticallyprimedwords(FerjanRamirezN,LeonardMK,TorresC,HatrakM,HalgrenE,MayberryRI.2013b.Neural