Brain lateralisation of speech and language production

言语和语言产生的大脑偏侧化

• 批准号: ES/S011838/1
• 负责人: Heather Payne
• 金额: $ 11.47万
• 依托单位: University College London
• 依托单位国家: 英国
• 项目类别: Fellowship
• 财政年份: 2018
• 资助国家: 英国
• 起止时间: 2018 至 无数据
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://gtr.ukri.org/projects?ref=ES%2FS011838%2F1
• 关键词: Brain; lateralisation; speech; language; production

For most people, the left side of the brain (hemisphere) is critical for their ability to use language. Most research into language and the brain has only considered auditory spoken languages used by hearing people, such as spoken English. However, language is more than speech. This is especially clear when we think about individuals born deaf who learn language without full access to auditory speech. There is huge variability in the language backgrounds of people born deaf. They might primarily use speechreading and spoken English to communicate. They may use an amplification device such as a hearing aid or cochlear implant. Some learn a signed language such as British Sign Language (BSL). My PhD research used a simple tool for measuring brain activity in children born deaf. This method, called functional transcranial Doppler sonography (fTCD), can be used while children produce spoken or signed language. This means we can test hypotheses about whether language - not only speech - is more reliant on the left than the right hemisphere of the brain. If so, we can also address questions about why this is the case.I found that children born deaf, regardless of their language background, showed typical left hemisphere dominance when they produced language. During a series of experiments, I also found that lateralisation measured by fTCD is affected by the types of task people are asked to do. I developed a picture naming task which showed greater left hemisphere activity in hearing children, but only those who were fluent at naming pictures. This study was the first to establish a link between fTCD data and behaviour.One of the aims of my fellowship is to communicate the findings described above with the academic community by writing papers for publication and by presenting the work at an international conference. A second aim is to communicate those findings with teachers of deaf children, to make sure my research goals are in line with those of research users. I will also make a short video to circulate on social media with the aim of debunking the right brain/left brain 'neuromyth'. There are some educational interventions which target developmental disorders such as autism and dyslexia that make claims about differences between the processes of the left and right hemispheres. I hope to highlight that these interventions may be overly simplistic.Another aim is to develop my skills as a researcher. My work would benefit from understanding more about the way fTCD measures hemispheric dominance. Gaining training in functional Near Infrared Spectroscopy (fNIRS) would allow me to compare the two methods and find out which regions show the greatest differences between hemispheres during language production. Skills using fNIRS will be crucial to my future project plans.Finally, I will use time in this fellowship to consolidate plans for my future programme of research. The overarching theme of this future work would be to describe the cognitive and neurocognitive operations that babies begin to perform very early in life to lay the foundation for producing language in childhood. A novel way to approach this is to investigate language learning in children who have drastically different early experience of language. My primary mentor, Dr Evelyne Mercure, tested the neural responses to language of 99 hearing children (as babies), including 31 hearing infants with Deaf mothers who are acquiring two languages in different modalities. Following up this unique cohort would allow me to ask a set of interesting questions about early language experience and its effects on the brain. To develop a structured programme of research for future research applications requires dedicated reading and writing time, and time to collect pilot data. An ESRC postdoctoral fellowship provides the perfect opportunity for me to achieve this.

对大多数人来说，左脑（半球）对他们使用语言的能力至关重要。大多数对语言和大脑的研究只考虑了听力正常的人使用的听觉口语，比如英语口语。然而，语言不仅仅是言语。当我们想到那些天生失聪的人，他们在学习语言时没有完全的听觉语言时，这一点就特别明显了。天生失聪的人的语言背景有很大的差异。他们可能主要使用语音阅读和英语口语来交流。他们可能会使用助听器或人工耳蜗等放大设备。有些人学习手语，如英国手语（BSL）。我的博士研究使用了一种简单的工具来测量天生失聪儿童的大脑活动。这种方法被称为功能性经颅多普勒超声（fTCD），可用于儿童产生口语或手语。这意味着我们可以测试关于语言-不仅仅是言语-是否更依赖于左脑而不是右脑的假设。如果是这样的话，我们也可以回答为什么会这样的问题。我发现，无论他们的语言背景如何，天生失聪的孩子在产生语言时都表现出典型的左半球优势。在一系列实验中，我还发现，fTCD测量的侧化受到人们被要求做的任务类型的影响。我开发了一个图片命名任务，它显示了听力儿童的左半球活动更大，但只有那些能流利地命名图片的儿童。这项研究是第一个建立fTCD数据和行为之间的联系。我的奖学金的目的之一是通过撰写论文发表和在国际会议上展示工作，与学术界交流上述研究结果。第二个目的是与聋儿教师交流这些发现，以确保我的研究目标与研究用户的目标一致。我还将制作一个简短的视频在社交媒体上传播，目的是揭穿右脑/左脑的“神经神话”。有一些针对自闭症和诵读困难等发育障碍的教育干预措施，声称左右半球的过程存在差异。我希望强调这些干预措施可能过于简单化。另一个目的是发展我作为研究人员的技能。我的工作将受益于更多地了解fTCD测量半球优势的方式。获得功能性近红外光谱（fNIRS）的培训将使我能够比较这两种方法，并找出在语言产生过程中大脑半球之间哪些区域表现出最大的差异。使用fNIRS的技能对我未来的项目计划至关重要。最后，我将利用这次奖学金的时间来巩固我未来的研究计划。这项未来工作的首要主题是描述婴儿在生命早期开始进行的认知和神经认知操作，为儿童时期产生语言奠定基础。一种新的方法来解决这个问题是调查儿童的语言学习，他们有着截然不同的早期语言经验。我的主要导师Evelyne Mercure博士测试了99名听力儿童（婴儿）对语言的神经反应，其中包括31名听力正常的婴儿，他们的母亲是聋人，他们正在以不同的方式学习两种语言。跟踪这个独特的群体将使我能够提出一系列关于早期语言经验及其对大脑影响的有趣问题。为未来的研究应用开发一个结构化的研究方案需要专门的阅读和写作时间，以及收集试验数据的时间。ESRC博士后奖学金为我提供了实现这一目标的绝佳机会。

项目成果

Children born deaf show typical hemispheric lateralisation during language production

天生聋哑儿童在语言产生过程中表现出典型的半球偏侧化

• 发表时间: 2018
• 作者: Payne, H. M.