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具有破坏性影响。设计适当的干预措施部分取决于对健康成年人口语处理的理解。事实上，基于口语单词识别研究的相似性度量允许设计更敏感的听力和语言缺陷测试。在这个建议中，四个项目研究口语单词识别的时间分布相似性的口语单词，学习和自上而下的知识的影响。时间过程测量是在口头指令下的视觉引导任务期间从眼动跟踪获得的。眼动追踪由更传统的范例补充，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。自然英语刺激和人工词汇被用作刺激。真实的单词在兴趣维度上不属于方便平衡的水平，而人工词典允许对语音相似性和频率进行精确控制，因此可以对竞争邻域进行精确控制。它们也为研究学习提供了一个范例，无论是在新单词的情况下，还是在竞争对手的相对频率变化的情况下。这些项目的结果被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.