POWRE: Behavioral Investigations of Nouns and Verbs

这个项目的广泛目标是获得一个更透彻的理解单词识别过程。 研究者通过研究语言理解研究中一个经常被忽视的变量，即语法类别成员关系，来实现这一目标。 最近对神经受损人群的研究揭示了名词和动词处理过程中显着的分离。 研究者的研究将名词/动词对比的发现扩展到未受损人群。 这些数据表明，相对于名词，左脑半球更大程度地参与了对动词的处理。 目前的建议扩大了这项研究，以调查在大脑中的定位问题。 将进行四个实验。 前两个是实验性的修改，使用不同的任务，并将调查扩展到形容词和副词的语法类别。 最后两个实验引入了一种新的方法来测试大脑中语法类组织的说法。 这些实验对比了视觉呈现刺激对的同时和连续呈现，以追踪整个词汇谱理解中干扰效应的起源。 名词和动词刺激的激活的时间过程将通过延迟一个相对于另一个的输入来探索。 语法范畴问题的研究对于完善在心理学和语言学上有效的文字处理理论是至关重要的。 本研究通过考察词汇表征和大脑加工的相互关系，为这一讨论做出了贡献。 它的目标是测试最近在神经心理学文献中提出的主张，即名词和动词的处理存在独立的子系统。 如果名词和动词的位置是不同的，它是可行的，行为效应可以揭示。 POWRE赠款将为研究人员的职业发展提供必要的资金。 她是一个非终身助理教授，她在过去五年中一直担任这一职位。 这笔赠款将使她能够专注于自己的研究，并制定一个长期的研究计划。 这也将使她能够追求一种新的方法来研究语言处理。 反过来，追求一种新的实验技术和随后发表的结果可以帮助研究人员获得终身职位。

The broad objective of this project is to gain a more thorough understanding of word recognition processes. The investigator approaches this goal by investigating an often-ignored variable in language comprehension studies-namely, grammatical class membership. Recent research examining neurologically damaged populations reveals notable dissociations in the processing of nouns and verbs. Research by the investigator has extended the finding of a noun/verb contrast to an unimpaired population. These data indicate a greater left hemispheric involvement in the processing of verbs relative to nouns. The present proposal expands this study to investigate localization issues in the brain. Four experiments will be conducted. The first two represent experimental modifications, using different tasks and extending the investigation to the grammatical class categories of adjective and adverb. The last two experiments introduce a new methodology to test the claim of grammatical class organization in the brain. These experiments contrast the simultaneous and successive presentation of pairs of visually-presented stimuli to trace the origin of interference effects in comprehension across the lexical spectrum. The time course of activation for noun and verb stimuli will be explored by delaying input of one relative to the other. Investigations of grammatical category issues are critical to the refinement of psychologically and linguistically valid theories of word processing. The research contributes to this discussion by examing the interrelationship of lexical representations and processes in the brain. Its goal is to test recent claims made in the neuropsychological literature-namely, that there exist separate subsystems for the processing of nouns and verbs. If noun and verb locations are distinct, it is feasible that behavioral effects can be uncovered. The POWRE grant will provide the necessary funds for career advancement for the investigator. She is a non-tenure track Assistant Professor, a position she has held for the past five years. The grant will allow her to concentrate on her own research and delineate a long-term research program. It will also allow her to pursue a new methodological approach to the study of language processing. In turn, the pursuit of a new experimental technique and subsequent publication of the results could aid the investigator in obtaining a tenure-track position.