The Auditory Lexicon: Similarity, Learning & Processing

描述(由申请人提供)：语言缺陷会对一个人在社会中发挥作用的能力造成毁灭性的影响。设计适当的干预措施在一定程度上取决于对健康成年人口语处理的理解。事实上，基于口语识别研究的相似性度量已经为听力和语言缺陷设计了更敏感的测试。在这项建议中，四个项目考察了口语单词、学习和自上而下知识中相似性的时间分布对口语单词识别的影响。时间进程测量是在口头指导下的视觉指导任务期间通过眼球跟踪获得的。眼球跟踪得到了更传统的范例的补充，允许直接比较测量结果，并为不适用于眼球跟踪的物品提供数据。自然英语刺激和人工词汇被用作刺激。真正的单词在兴趣维度上并不处于方便平衡的水平，而人工词典允许精确控制语音相似性和频率，因此竞争邻里关系。它们还提供了一种研究学习的范式，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来改进口语单词的相似性度量，并开发口语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.