The Auditory Lexicon: Similarity, Learning & Processing

描述（由申请人提供）：语言缺陷对一个人在社会中发挥作用的能力有毁灭性的影响。设计适当的干预措施部分取决于了解健康成人的口语加工过程。事实上，基于口语单词识别研究的相似性度量已经允许设计更灵敏的听力和语言缺陷测试。在这个建议中，四个项目考察了口语单词中相似性的时间分布、学习和自上而下的知识对口语单词识别的影响。在口头指示下，视觉引导任务期间通过眼动追踪获得时间过程测量。眼动追踪是由更传统的范例补充的，允许直接比较测量结果，并为不适合眼动追踪的项目提供数据。使用自然英语刺激和人工词汇作为刺激。真实的单词在兴趣维度上不会落入方便的平衡水平，而人工词汇可以精确控制语音相似性和频率，因此可以竞争邻域。它们还为研究学习提供了一个范例，无论是新单词还是竞争对手相对频率的变化。这些项目的结果用于改进口语单词的相似性度量，并开发口语单词处理和学习的计算模型。

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): Language deficits have devastating effects on one's ability to function in society. Designing appropriate interventions depends in part on understanding spoken language processing in healthy adults. Indeed, similarity metrics based on spoken word recognition research have allowed the design of more sensitive tests for hearing and language deficits. In this proposal, four projects examine the effects on spoken word recognition of the temporal distribution of similarity in spoken words, learning, and top-down knowledge. Time course measures are obtained from eye tracking during visually guided tasks under spoken instructions. The eye tracking is complemented by more traditional paradigms, allowing direct comparisons of the measures and providing data for items not amenable to eye tracking. Natural English stimuli and artificial lexicons are used as stimuli. Real words do not fall into conveniently balanced levels on the dimensions of interest, while artificial lexicons allow precise control over phonological similarity and frequency, and therefore competition neighborhood. They also provide a paradigm for studying learning, whether in the case of new words or changes in the relative frequencies of competitors. The results of the projects are used to refine similarity metrics for spoken words and develop a computational model of spoken word processing and learning.