Dr Laura-Ann Petitto

Yes, indeed® Max. I came here intending to post this, but you have preyarted me..!

Well, it would seem that sign language and vocalised speech share use of a key part of the brain….

http://wordsmith.org/board/showthreaded.pl?Cat=&Board=miscellany&Number=33164&Search=true&Forum=
All_Forums&Words=sign language&Match=Entire Phrase&Searchpage=0&Limit=25&Old=6months


(look for the quote about sign language by Laura-Anne Petito)

And this may be a form of pattern recognition uniquely developed in our brains.