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: 10534775
• 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 2024-11-30
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/10534775
• 关键词: Adult; Applied Research; Area; Attention; Award; Behavioral; Biological Assay; Brain; Brain region; Categories; Clinical; Color; Complex; Computer Models; Crowding; Cues; Data; Diagnosis; Diffusion Magnetic Resonance Imaging; Dyslexia; Elements; Equation; 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; Persons; Phase; Population Heterogeneity; Positioning Attribute; Postdoctoral Fellow; 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; Washington; Word Processing; Work; Writing; area striata; attentional modulation; behavior test; blood oxygenation level dependent response; career; cognitive skill; experimental study; extrastriate visual cortex; gaze; imaging modality; information processing; lexical; literacy; literate; mathematical model; member; neural; neural circuit; neuroimaging; parallel architecture; parallel processing; phonology; prevent; reading ability; response; retinotopic; sample fixation; selective attention; skills; 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.

项目概要/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，视觉文字识别是一个复杂的过程 由大脑中的专门电路执行，对于数百万人来说，这从来都不是一件容易的事。甚至熟练 由于周边视力和固有能力较差，读者必须将一页文本分成小块进行处理 感觉信息处理的限制。即使只有两个清晰可见的单词也很难同时识别。 该项目研究了视觉单词识别能力限制的潜在神经元基础以及如何 它们因人而异。具体研究目标：（1）检验特定枕骨的假设 颞脑区域，即所谓的“视觉词形区域”（VWFA），是单词识别的瓶颈。 观察者将在 MRI 扫描仪中查看闪烁的单词对，该扫描仪记录功能活动和 大脑区域之间的结构连接。追踪信息从早期视觉皮层到 语言系统，这项研究将操纵观察者关注刺激的哪些方面。 (2) 至 改变任务要求，以磨练单词识别的特定阶段（例如，拼写、 词法）存在处理瓶颈。 (3) 检验阅读个体差异的假设 能力与特定加工阶段的能力限制有关，并将这些能力限制与白色联系起来 假设在阅读过程中控制视觉信息流的物质束。候选人：亚历克斯博士 怀特是一名博士后研究员，致力于将自己打造为一名技能独特的认知神经科学家 并建立了自己的实验室来研究视觉感知和识字的神经基础。在他之前的 在培训期间，他利用心理物理学、眼球追踪和功能磁共振成像研究了选择性注意的机制。在 在他最近的作品中，他发现熟练的读者一次只能在语义上识别一个单词， 现在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 神经影像，特别是弥散加权 MRI (dMRI)，用于分析读数中的白质束 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 华盛顿大学并协助他过渡到教职。培训计划：怀特博士有 组建了一流的导师团队：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相关的神经回路； Geoff Boynton 博士，功能磁共振成像及其影响方面的专家 人类视觉皮层的注意力；约翰·帕尔默 (John Palmer) 博士开发了容量限制的数学模型 在感知中。在该奖项的 K99 阶段，这些导师将培训 White 博士进行高级 fMRI 分析 技术、dMRI 和建模。他们将支持第一组拟议研究的执行， 让他做好成为一名有效的首席研究员的准备。当他独立地进行这项工作时 他希望通过自己的实验室开辟新的应用研究途径，以减轻不同领域的阅读障碍 人口。