Doctoral Dissertation Research: Pronominal Interpretation and the Syntax-Discourse Interface: An ERP-Study

博士论文研究：代词解释和句法-话语界面：ERP 研究

• 批准号: 0236736
• 负责人: Maria Pinango
• 金额: $ 1.2万
• 依托单位: Yale University
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2003
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2003-02-01 至 2004-01-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=0236736&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: Doctoral; Dissertation; Research; Pronominal; Interpretation

Under the direction of Dr. Maria M. Pinango, Ms. Petra Burkhardt will conduct a series of experiments for her doctoral dissertation. She will investigate how different types of pronominal elements (e.g., "him/her" and "himself/herself") are interpreted during sentence comprehension. The experiments will record event-related brain potentials (ERPs) while participants listen to sentences, focusing on the time when the pronominal is heard. The study explores how and when pronominals determine their referents. In contrast to full nouns (like "apple" or "dog"), pronominal elements do not have fully fledged meaning of their own. For instance, in a sentence like "The man said that Mary called him," "him" may mean "the man." This research connects important questions in linguistics (regarding the architecture of the language system), computer science (regarding dynamic implementation of formal systems, specifically pronominal resolution) and neuroscience (regarding cortical distribution of language). The research will have implications for the study of brain and cognition relations, as it addresses the reasons that the representation of these referentially deficient elements is particularly vulnerable in certain neurological diseases (e.g., Alzheimer's, Schizophrenia) and cerebro-vascular syndromes (e.g., Aphasia). The project will also provide an opportunity for undergraduate students to receive research training, and it will foster interaction between researchers in the cognitive neuroscience community at Yale University.

在玛丽亚·M博士的指导下，皮南戈，佩特拉·伯克哈特女士将为她的博士论文进行一系列实验。她将研究不同类型的代词成分（例如，“他/她”和“他自己/她自己”）在句子理解期间被解释。实验将记录事件相关脑电位（ERP），同时参与者听句子，重点是听到代词的时间。本研究探讨代词如何以及何时决定其指称对象。与完整的名词（如“苹果”或“狗”）相反，代词成分本身没有完全成熟的含义。例如，在一个句子中，“The man said that玛丽called him”，“him”可能意味着“那个人”。“这项研究将语言学（关于语言系统的架构），计算机科学（关于形式系统的动态实现，特别是代词解析）和神经科学（关于语言的皮层分布）中的重要问题联系起来。这项研究将对大脑和认知关系的研究产生影响，因为它解决了这些参考缺陷元素的表示在某些神经系统疾病中特别脆弱的原因（例如，阿尔茨海默氏症，精神分裂症）和血管综合征（例如，失语症）。该项目还将为本科生提供接受研究培训的机会，并将促进耶鲁大学认知神经科学界研究人员之间的互动。