Time course of variability in spoken word recognition

描述(由申请人提供)：拟议研究的长期目标是更好地了解口语单词识别的过程和表征。现在有大量的经验证据支持这一假设，即言语中的表面变异性既有加工含义，也有表征含义。处理工作表明，语音中的可变性，例如说话者身份的变化，阻碍了感知，导致较慢和/或较不准确的口语单词识别。表征工作表明，可变性对口语单词的感知也有长期的影响，这表明口语单词识别的表征可以包括高度特定的表面细节。此外，最近的研究还表明，变异性效应遵循时间进程，在知觉加工过程中的可预见点上表现出来。更具体地说，某些类型的表面可变性似乎不会影响口语单词识别的早期阶段。相反，抽象的语言表征似乎推动了对口语单词的初始在线知觉，而包含与可变性相关的表面细节的更具体的表征只影响加工的后期阶段。拟议工作的目的是提供对变异性影响的时间进程的更直接和更细粒度的分析。特别是，将使用眼球跟踪范式收集两种可变性来源--说话者身份和说话速度--的时间进程影响的行为测量。这项拟议的研究最终应该会带来更好的理论和模式，无论是正常的还是无序的口语感知。

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): The long-term objective of the proposed research is to gain a better understanding of the processes and representations underlying spoken word recognition. Substantial empirical evidence now exists in support of the hypothesis that surface variability in speech has both processing and representational implications. The processing work demonstrates that variability in speech, such as a change in the identity of a talker, hinders perception, resulting in slower and/or less accurate spoken word recognition. The representational work demonstrates that variability also has long-term consequences for the perception of spoken words, suggesting that the representations underlying spoken word recognition can include highly specific surface details. Furthermore, recent work also suggests that variability effects follow a time course, manifesting themselves at predictable points during perceptual processing. More specifically, some types of surface variability do not seem to affect early stages of spoken word recognition. Rather, abstract linguistic representations appear to drive the initial on-line perception of spoken words and more specific representations, containing surface details associated with variability, only affect latter stages of processing. The aim of the proposed work is to provide a more immediate and fine-grained analysis of the time course of variability effects. In particular, behavioral measures of the time course effects of two sources of variability, talker-identity and speaking rate, will be collected using the eye-tracking paradigm. The proposed research should ultimately lead to better theories and models of both normal and disordered spoken language perception.