Spatial Language and Spatial Cognition in Williams Syndrome

这个项目的目标是促进我们对空间语言和空间认知之间关系的理解，特别是通过询问非语言空间认知如何支持人类谈论空间的基本能力。现代认知和认知发展理论认为，语言反映了思维，而对空间的理解对于支持谈论物体、它们的空间关系以及它们在空间中的运动的能力至关重要。然而，我们对这两个认知系统如何在空间知识转化为语言以及反之亦然的过程中相互作用的了解非常有限。我们的研究试图通过询问非语言空间认知的哪些因素对于空间语言的习得和使用是必要的，以及空间认知的变化如何影响谈论空间的能力来更全面地描述这种互动的性质。我们通过研究患有威廉姆斯综合征(WS)的儿童和成年人的空间认知和空间语言的出现来检验这些相互作用。WS是一种罕见的遗传缺陷，空间认知似乎受到严重损害，但语言通常没有受到损害。通过理解在没有正常的非语言空间认知的情况下空间语言是如何产生的，我们将能够更好地理解允许两种认知系统之间准确翻译的正常人类认知结构的本质，以及在什么情况下这种翻译可能会受到损害。这些问题将通过两组实验来解决，这些实验考察了空间认知系统的架构，以及WS个体和正常发育个体之间的空间语言性质。空间认知的研究包括考察个体如何解决复杂的空间构建任务，他们如何表示和记忆物体和位置，以及他们如何在空间中导航以定位物体。空间语言的研究包括考察个体如何谈论物体(使用名词)、运动(使用动词)以及路径和位置(使用空间介词)。比较语言和非语言空间任务的表现将有助于我们理解语言通常是如何编码我们的空间经验的，以及在什么情况下这种编码可能会崩溃。

The goal of this project is to advance our understanding of the relationship between spatial language and spatial cognition, specifically by asking how non-linguistic spatial cognition supports the fundamental human capacity to talk about space. Modern theories of cognition and cognitive development assume that language reflects thought, and that understanding of space is critical in supporting the ability to talk about objects, their spatial relationships, and their motions through space. However, we have only a very limited understanding of how these two cognitive systems interact as knowledge of space is translated into language and vice versa. Our research seeks to delineate more fully the nature of the interactions, by asking what elements of non-linguistic spatial cognition are necessary for the acquisition and use of spatial language, and how changes in spatial cognition affect the ability to talk about space. We examine these interactions by studying the emergence of spatial cognition and spatial language among children and adults with Williams Syndrome (WS), an unusual genetic defect in which spatial cognition appears to be severely impaired but language is generally unimpaired. By understanding how spatial language emerges in the absence of normal non-linguistic spatial cognition, we will be better able to understand the nature of normal human cognitive architecture that permits accurate translation between the two cognitive systems as well as the circumstances under which such translation may be compromised. These issues will be addressed in two sets of experiments that examine the architecture of the spatial cognitive system and the nature of spatial language among WS individuals and normally developing individuals. Studies of spatial cognition include examination of how individuals solve complex spatial construction tasks, how they represent and remember objects and locations, and how they navigate through space to locate objects. Studies of spatial language include examination of how individuals talk about objects (using nouns), motions (using verbs), and paths and locations (using spatial prepositions). Comparison of performance on linguistic and non-linguistic spatial tasks will advance our understanding of how language typically encodes our spatial experience, and the circumstances under which such encoding may break down.