Human Brain Tunes Into Visual Rhythms in Sign Language

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The human brain works in rhythms and cycles. These patterns occur at predictable frequencies that depend on what a person is doing and on what part of the brain is active during the behavior.

Similarly, there are rhythms and patterns out in the world, and for the last 20 years, scientists have been perplexed by the brain’s ability to “entrain,” or match up, with these patterns. Language is one of those areas in which scientists observe neural entrainment: When people listen to speech, their brain waves lock up with the volume-based rhythms they hear. Since people can’t pay attention to everything happening in their environment at once, this phase locking is thought to help anticipate when important information is likely to appear.