Speech-specific categorical perception deficit in autism: An Event-Related Potential study of lexical tone processing in Mandarin-speaking children.
Speech-specific categorical perception deficit in autism: An Event-Related Potential study of lexical tone processing in Mandarin-speaking children.
复制标题
自闭症患者的言语特异性分类知觉缺陷：普通话儿童词汇声调处理的事件相关电位研究
DOI：
10.1038/srep43254
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发表时间：
2017-02-22
影响因子：
4.6
通讯作者：
Zhang Y
中科院分区：
文献类型：
--
作者：
Wang X;Wang S;Fan Y;Huang D;Zhang Y
近期研究表明，患有自闭症的声调语言使用者，对非言语刺激中的音高变化具有增强的神经敏感性，但对其母语中的词汇声调对比却并非如此。本项事件相关电位（ERP）研究旨在探究，自闭症患者在言语和非言语刺激方面截然不同的音高处理模式，是否源于对词汇声调进行范畴知觉时存在特定于言语的缺陷。研究采用被动偏差刺激范式，对比了两组中国儿童（自闭症组16名，对照组15名）对同等音高偏差的失匹配反应（MMRs），这些音高偏差分别代表言语和非言语情境中的范畴内差异与范畴间差异。为进一步研究两组在对言语/非言语刺激进行范畴知觉时，MMRs是否存在组间差异，研究人员还利用试次间相位相干性（ITPC）测量方法，计算了单个试次水平上θ和β频段的神经振荡活动。来自自闭症儿童的MMR和ITPC数据表明，他们在词汇声调条件下缺乏范畴知觉。鉴于词汇声调在习得声调语言过程中的重要作用，研究结果指出，对于存在此类特定于言语的范畴知觉缺陷的自闭症个体，有必要进行早期干预。
Recent studies reveal that tonal language speakers with autism have enhanced neural sensitivity to pitch changes in nonspeech stimuli but not to lexical tone contrasts in their native language. The present ERP study investigated whether the distinct pitch processing pattern for speech and nonspeech stimuli in autism was due to a speech-specific deficit in categorical perception of lexical tones. A passive oddball paradigm was adopted to examine two groups (16 in the autism group and 15 in the control group) of Chinese children’s Mismatch Responses (MMRs) to equivalent pitch deviations representing within-category and between-category differences in speech and nonspeech contexts. To further examine group-level differences in the MMRs to categorical perception of speech/nonspeech stimuli or lack thereof, neural oscillatory activities at the single trial level were further calculated with the inter-trial phase coherence (ITPC) measure for the theta and beta frequency bands. The MMR and ITPC data from the children with autism showed evidence for lack of categorical perception in the lexical tone condition. In view of the important role of lexical tones in acquiring a tonal language, the results point to the necessity of early intervention for the individuals with autism who show such a speech-specific categorical perception deficit.