Behavioral and neurophysiological investigations of individual variation in cue weighting strategies

对语音的感知通常需要听者同时注意多个线索。然而，线索的相对重要性的权重在个体之间是不同的。然而，人们对这种变异的来源知之甚少。该项目将调查支持这种可变性的潜在机制。该项目将扩大语言感知和语言产生理论所依据的经验数据库，并为母语/第二语言习得和教学提供见解，为个别语言学习者提供个性化培训。该项目还将通过计划中的外展项目，通过对语言科学的研究，向年轻女性和代表性不足的少数族裔介绍STEM领域。该项目的研究结果可能会为发育性或获得性感知和语言障碍的临床研究提供信息，也可能为语言相关技术的研究提供信息。本项目侧重于线索权重个体差异的两种潜在解释。听者可能在早期的听觉编码中有所不同，这影响了支持语音对比的某些线索的可靠性，从而影响了权重。听者在线索整合策略上也可能有所不同，例如有些人采用连续线索整合策略，即线索信息在可用时进行整合，而另一些人可能采用缓冲策略，以便将音素识别推迟到所有必要的信息可用时。该项目将利用同一个体的脑干和皮层对语音的反应来研究线索权重的个体差异，从而提供一个全面的神经生理学概况，作为实时线索权重过程的个体模式的基础，通过眼球运动来测量。该奖项反映了美国国家科学基金会的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的知识价值和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

The perception of speech sounds often requires listeners to pay attention to multiple cues at once. The weighting of the relative importance of cues can nonetheless vary across individuals. Little is known regarding the sources of such variation, however. This project will investigate potential mechanisms underpinning such variability. The project will broaden the empirical database on which theories of speech perception and production are grounded as well as providing insights into first/second language acquisition and pedagogy in terms of the development of personalized training for individual language learners. The project will also introduce young women and under-represented minorities to STEM fields via the study of the language sciences through planned outreach programs. The findings from this project may inform clinical research on developmental or acquired perceptual and language impairments, and may also serve to inform research on speech related technologies.This project focuses on two potential explanations for individual variability in cue weighting. Listeners might differ in early auditory encoding, which affects the reliability, hence weighting, of certain cues that support phonological contrasts. Listeners might also differ in cue integration strategy such that some utilize a continuous cue integration strategy whereby cue information is integrated as they become available, while others might employ a buffer strategy so that phonemic identification is postponed until all necessary information becomes available. This project will investigate individual variability in cue weighting using brainstem and cortical responses to speech sounds within the same individual, thus providing a comprehensive neurophysiological profile that underlies individual patterns of real-time cue weighting process, as measured with eye-movements.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.