Doctoral Dissertation Research on the Role of Domain-General Executive Functions in Language Production: Resolving conflict in lexical selection

域一般执行功能在语言产生中的作用的博士论文研究：解决词汇选择中的冲突

• 批准号: 1420820
• 负责人: Matthew Goldrick
• 金额: $ 0.92万
• 依托单位: Northwestern University
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2014
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2014-07-01 至 2016-06-30
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=1420820&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: Doctoral; Dissertation; Research; Role; Domain

Understanding how speakers succeed in producing fluent speech with little conscious effort is critical not only to our understanding of the human capacity for language, it also provides insight into how injury to the brain can result in different patterns of loss to that capacity. Producing speech is an impressive mental feat. For example, even cognitively intact individuals sometimes slip up and say the wrong word (e.g., monotony instead of monogamy). How is it that most of the time speakers manage to avoid such difficulties? Building on previous work, this project proposes that speakers efficiently manage the complexity of speaking by drawing on general mental processes called executive functions. These allow speakers to "focus" mental processing, allowing them to efficiently retrieve the words they wish to speak. This project tests this hypothesis by examining how the efficiency of producing speech is related to (i) individual differences in executive functions and (ii) recent experience using executive functions in other cognitive tasks. Gaining a better understanding of the links between general and language specific mental processes may help professionals capitalize on those links in therapeutic and educational settings. For instance, recent research on bilingualism suggests that regular experience with difficult language processing--e.g., when a bilingual alternates between multiple languages may improve general cognitive control and delay the onset of dementia. Identifying which general processes are involved in speech production may therefore allow the development of cognitive control training that targets those processes--which may be used to help individuals with deficits to language production.This research will specifically examine how particular parts of general cognitive control contribute to word retrieval during speech production. Previous work has shown that there is competition among multiple representations during word retrieval (e.g., upon seeing a picture of a CAT, the words CAT, RAT, and DOG all come to mind). This project will examine whether general control processes known as executive functions help resolve such competition. Specifically, it will investigate two executive functions that support conflict resolution: response inhibition (suppression of an automatic response to a stimulus) and interference resolution (prevention of an incorrect response when multiple options are available). The first of two studies will test whether speakers? individual differences in response inhibition and interference resolution abilities influence their picture naming performance in the context of strong competition. If the target executive functions help speakers resolve conflict among competing word-level representations, then speakers with higher control abilities should show have less trouble naming pictures in the presence of competition. Importantly, several behavioral tasks will be used to evaluate each executive function, ensuring that the executive function measures do not reflect task-specific effects. The second, parallel study will examine the causality of the relationship between the target executive functions and word retrieval using a procedure known as negative transfer. Each of three groups will receive intensive practice in non-linguistic tasks intended to 'exhaust' a specific executive function. If the target control process (e.g., response inhibition) is involved in conflict resolution during word retrieval, then negative transfer should occur, such that speakers who practiced that process have more trouble naming pictures after practice than before it.

理解说话者如何在几乎没有意识的情况下成功地说出流利的语言，不仅对于我们理解人类的语言能力至关重要，而且还提供了对大脑损伤如何导致该能力的不同模式丧失的洞察。发表演讲是一项令人印象深刻的脑力壮举。例如，即使是认知完好的人有时也会说错话(例如，单调而不是一夫一妻制)。为什么演讲者在大多数情况下都设法避免了这样的困难？在之前工作的基础上，该项目建议说话者通过利用被称为执行功能的一般心理过程来有效地管理说话的复杂性。这使说话者能够“集中”精神处理，使他们能够有效地提取他们想要说的话。该项目通过检验言语产生的效率与(I)执行功能的个体差异和(Ii)最近在其他认知任务中使用执行功能的经验之间的关系来检验这一假说。更好地了解一般心理过程和特定语言心理过程之间的联系，可能有助于专业人员在治疗和教育环境中利用这些联系。例如，最近关于双语的研究表明，经常经历困难的语言处理--例如，当双语在多种语言之间交替时--可能会改善一般认知控制，推迟痴呆症的发生。因此，确定哪些一般过程参与了言语产生，可能会允许针对这些过程的认知控制训练的发展--这可能被用来帮助有语言产生缺陷的个人。这项研究将专门研究一般认知控制的特定部分如何在言语产生过程中对单词提取做出贡献。先前的研究表明，在单词提取过程中，多种表征之间存在竞争(例如，当看到一张猫的图片时，脑海中都会浮现出猫、老鼠和狗等词)。这个项目将考察被称为执行职能的一般控制过程是否有助于解决这种竞争。具体地说，它将调查支持冲突解决的两个执行功能：反应抑制(抑制对刺激的自动反应)和干扰解决(当有多种选择时防止错误反应)。两项研究中的第一项将测试说话者是否？个体在反应抑制和干扰解决能力上的差异影响了他们在激烈竞争环境下的图片命名成绩。如果目标执行功能有助于说话者解决相互竞争的词级表征之间的冲突，那么具有较高控制能力的说话者应该表现出在竞争中命名图片的困难较少。重要的是，将使用几个行为任务来评估每个执行功能，以确保执行功能测量不会反映特定于任务的影响。第二个平行研究将使用负迁移程序来检验目标执行功能和单词提取之间的因果关系。三组中的每一组都将接受非语言任务的密集练习，目的是让特定的执行功能“筋疲力尽”。如果目标控制过程(如反应抑制)参与了词提取过程中的冲突解决，则应该发生负迁移，从而使练习该过程的说话者在练习后比练习前更难命名图片。