Capacity limits in the neural circuitry of visual word recognition

视觉单词识别神经回路的容量限制

• 批准号: 10296072
• 负责人: Alexander Lindley White
• 金额: $ 24.89万
• 依托单位: BARNARD COLLEGE
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 财政年份: 2021
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2021-02-01 至 2023-11-30
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/10296072
• 关键词: Adult; Applied Research; Area; Attention; Award; Behavioral; Biological Assay; Brain; Brain region; Categories; Clinical; Cognitive; Color; Complex; Computer Models; Crowding; Cues; Data; Diagnosis; Diffusion Magnetic Resonance Imaging; Dyslexia; Elements; Eye Movements; Faculty; Foundations; Functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging; Funding; Goals; Human; Impairment; Individual; Individual Differences; Information Networks; Laboratories; Language; Left; Letters; Life; Location; Magnetic Resonance Imaging; Masks; Mentors; Methods; Modeling; Modernization; Neurologic; Neurons; Orthography; Parietal; Pathway interactions; Perception; Performance; Peripheral; Phase; Population Heterogeneity; Positioning Attribute; Principal Investigator; Process; Property; Psychophysics; Reader; Reading; Records; Research; Research Personnel; Retina; Scanning; Semantics; Sensory; Side; Stimulus; Structure; System; Task Performances; Techniques; Testing; Text; Time; Training; Universities; Variant; Vision; Visual; Visual Cortex; Visual Fields; Visual Perception; Visual system structure; Washington; Word Processing; Work; area striata; attentional modulation; base; behavior test; blood oxygenation level dependent response; career; experimental study; extrastriate visual cortex; gaze; imaging modality; information processing; lexical; literacy; literate; mathematical model; member; neural circuit; neuroimaging; parallel architecture; parallel processing; phonology; prevent; reading ability; relating to nervous system; response; retinotopic; sample fixation; selective attention; visual information; visual tracking; white matter

Project Summary / Abstract For most literate adults, reading feels effortless. However, visual word recognition is a complex process performed by specialized circuits in the brain, and for millions of people it never becomes easy. Even skilled readers have to process a page of text in small chunks, due to poor peripheral vision and inherent capacity limits for sensory information processing. It is difficult to recognize even just two clearly visible words at once. This project investigates the underlying neuronal basis for capacity limits in visual word recognition and how they differ across individuals. Specific research goals: (1) To test the hypothesis that a particular occipito- temporal brain area, the putative `visual word form area' (VWFA), is a bottleneck to word recognition. Observers will view flashing pairs of words in an MRI scanner that records both functional activity and structural connections between brain areas. To trace out the flow of information from early visual cortex into the language system, this study will manipulate which aspects of the stimuli the observers attend to. (2) To vary the task demands in order to hone in on the particular stage of word recognition (e.g., orthographic, lexical) where there is a processing bottleneck. (3) To test the hypothesis that individual differences in reading ability are related to capacity limits in particular processing stages, and to relate those capacity limits to white matter tracts that are hypothesized to control the flow of visual information during reading. Candidate: Dr. Alex White is a postdoctoral researcher seeking to establish himself as a uniquely skilled cognitive neuroscientist and launch his own laboratory to study visual perception and the neural foundations of literacy. In his prior training, he investigated the mechanisms of selective attention with psychophysics, eye-tracking, and fMRI. In his most recent work he discovered that skilled readers can semantically recognize only one word at a time, and now seeks to fully explain that finding. To accomplish these goals he needs more training in advanced neuroimaging, especially diffusion-weighted MRI (dMRI), to assay the white matter tracts in the reading circuitry. The Pathway to Independence Award will allow him to reach his goals by funding additional training at the University of Washington and facilitating his transition to a faculty position. Training plan: Dr. White has assembled a first-rate team of mentors: Dr. Jason Yeatman, who develops sophisticated imaging methods to study the neural circuits related to reading and dyslexia; Dr. Geoff Boynton, an expert in fMRI and the effects of attention in human visual cortex; and Dr. John Palmer, who develops mathematical models for capacity limits in perception. In the K99 phase of this award, these mentors will train Dr. White in advanced fMRI analysis techniques, dMRI and modeling. They will support the execution of the first set of proposed studies and prepare him to become an effective principal investigator. When he carries on this work independently in his own lab, he hopes to open new avenues of applied research that will alleviate reading impairments in diverse populations.

项目总结/摘要 对于大多数识字的成年人来说，阅读感觉毫不费力。然而，视觉单词识别是一个复杂的过程 这是由大脑中的专门回路执行的，对数百万人来说，这从来都不是一件容易的事。即使是熟练的 由于周边视觉和固有能力差，读者不得不以小块的方式处理一页文字 感官信息处理的极限。很难同时识别两个清晰可见的单词。 本研究旨在探讨视觉文字辨识能力限制的神经基础，以及视觉文字辨识能力限制是如何影响视觉文字辨识能力的？ 它们因人而异。具体的研究目标：（1）为了检验一个特定的枕- 颞叶脑区，即所谓的“视觉词形区”（VWFA），是词汇识别的瓶颈。 观察者将在MRI扫描仪中看到闪烁的成对单词，该扫描仪记录了功能活动， 大脑区域之间的结构连接。为了追踪信息从早期视觉皮层到 语言系统，这项研究将操纵哪些方面的刺激，观察员出席。(2)到 改变任务要求以便在单词识别的特定阶段上磨练（例如，正字法， 词法），其中存在处理瓶颈。(3)为了验证阅读的个体差异 能力与特定处理阶段的能力限制相关，并将这些能力限制与白色相关 假设在阅读过程中控制视觉信息流的物质束。候选人：Alex博士 白色是一个博士后研究员寻求建立自己作为一个独特的技能认知神经科学家 并建立了自己的实验室来研究视觉感知和读写的神经基础。在他之前的 训练期间，他用心理物理学、眼动追踪和功能磁共振成像研究了选择性注意的机制。在 在他最近的研究中，他发现熟练的读者在语义上一次只能识别一个词， 现在，他试图充分解释这一发现。为了实现这些目标，他需要更多的高级训练。 神经成像，尤其是弥散加权MRI（dMRI），以分析阅读中的白色物质束 电路独立之路奖将使他能够通过资助额外的培训来实现他的目标， 华盛顿大学，并促进他过渡到一个教师的位置。培训计划：白色博士 组建了一个一流的导师团队：Jason Yeatman博士，他开发了复杂的成像方法， 研究与阅读和阅读障碍有关的神经回路;功能磁共振成像和阅读障碍的影响方面的专家Geoff Boynton博士 人类视觉皮层的注意力;约翰·帕尔默博士，他开发了容量限制的数学模型 在感知上。在该奖项的K99阶段，这些导师将对白色博士进行高级fMRI分析培训 技术，dMRI和建模。他们将支持执行第一批拟议研究， 让他成为一名出色的首席调查员当他独立地在他的 在自己的实验室里，他希望开辟应用研究的新途径，以减轻各种各样的阅读障碍。 人口。