SPATIAL LANGUAGE & SPATIAL COGNITION--WILLIAMS SYNDROME

描述：拟议研究的目的是研究 儿童空间语言与空间认知的关系 患有威廉姆斯综合征。现代认知理论与认知 发展假设人类语言反映了人类的组织 想着。在语言学习理论中，人们进一步假设 孩子们学会谈论他们所知道的东西-- 他们看得见、听得见周围的人。最近，这些理论一直在 受到一种不寻常的遗传综合症的证据的挑战 语言和思维似乎是部分分离的。具有以下特征的个人 威廉姆斯综合征(WS)表现出一种特征性的认知特征 包括空间表示方面的严重缺陷，以及 相对宽容和正常发展的语言。这一组合 在空间理解方面的缺陷，以及明显幸免的 语言的发展提出了一个问题，即这些人是如何学习的 谈论空间，使用名词、动词和介词来编码 他们观察到周围的物体、喷口和空间关系。 尽管目前有相当多关于WS的研究活动，但有 还没有人对他们的空间语言特征进行详细的研究 也不知道这与他们的空间认知缺陷有什么关系。这个 这项提案中描述的研究将开始描绘具体的 WS个体的空间缺陷的性质、特定的性质 它们的空间语言，以及它们之间可能的关系 这种综合症的语言和思维方面的问题。一系列九个 关于空间赤字的实验将检验空间的性质 细分，特别侧重于(A)故障的详细性质 模式构建任务，这是WS认知的一个标志 概况；以及(B)空间细分是全球性的还是具体的，下降 沿着认知架构的既定路线。一系列六个 关于空间语言的实验将检验空间语言是否 保存在WS中，以及是否有任何故障与故障平行。在……里面 空间认知。总体而言，这项研究有两个互补的目标：一个 是为了更好地理解认知崩溃的模式 在WS中保存；第二个是使用这些模式来更好地 了解认知体系结构的本质，以及一般情况下 其在认知发育障碍中崩溃的本质。因此，作为 研究异常人群的发育通常是这样的， 这些结果也将有助于了解语言的发展，尽管 正常发育的儿童。

DESCRIPTION: The objective of the proposed research is to examine the relationship between spatial language and spatial cognition in children with Williams syndrome. Modern theories of cognition and cognitive development assume that human language reflects the organization of human thought. In theories of language learning, it is further assumed that children learn to talk about what they know- the objects and events that they see and hear around them. Recently, these theories have been challenged by evidence from an unusually genetic syndrome in which language and though appear to be partially dissociated. Individuals with Williams syndrome (WS) show a characteristic cognitive profile that includes profound deficits in spatial representation together with relatively spared and normally developing language. This combination of deficit in spatial understanding together with apparently spared development of language raises the question how these individuals learn to talk about space, using nouns, verbs, and prepositions to encode the objects,e vents, and spatial relationships they observe around them. Although there is currently considerable research activity on WS, there have been no detailed studies on the character on their spatial language nor how it may be related to deficits in their spatial cognition. The research described in this proposal will begin to delineate the specific nature of the spatial deficit in WS individuals, the specific nature of their spatial language, and the possible relationships between these aspects of language and thought in this syndrome. A series of nine experiments on the spatial deficit will examine the nature of spatial breakdown, especially focusing on (a) the detailed nature of failure in pattern construction tasks, which is a hallmark of the WS cognitive profile; and (b) whether spatial breakdown is global or specific, falling along established lines of cognitive architecture. A series of six experiments on spatial language will examine whether spatial language is preserved in WS, and whether any breakdown parallels the breakdown. in spatial cognition. Overall, the research has two complementary goals: one is to better understand the pattern of cognitive breakdown and preservation in WS; the second is to use these patterns to better understand the nature of cognitive architecture, and in general, the nature of its breakdown in cognitive developmental disorder. Therefore, as its often the case for studies of development in unusual populations, the results will also shed light on the development of language and though in normally developing children.