The advent of motion capture technology allows us to study ASL from a new perspective. The Rokoko smartsuit II uses EMF and sensor technology which enables us to more accurately capture ASL sign production, avoiding common pitfalls of 2D videos such as image occlusion. The suit automatically collects limb position and velocity data from a signer for more precise measurements of sign execution. We are currently working to assemble a bank of ASL stimuli composed of signs, sentences, and actions which can be used for future EEG studies. Our current interest is to examine the role of postures (eg. signs which make contact with the body) in ASL processing. The suits measurements allow us to align specific moments in sign production with corresponding ERPs from patients who are presented with the stimuli to determine whether moments of contact elicit a response indicative of lexical or semantic processing.
Rokoko. (2024). Capture your body’s motion in real time with Smartsuit Pro II. https://www.rokoko.com/products/smartsuit-pro
Corina, D. P. (2021). Articulatory postures and forward models in American Sign Language: Linguistic and neuroscience evidence. FEAST. Formal and Experimental Advances in Sign language Theory, 4, 61-73.