Time course of spoken word recognition

描述（由申请人提供）：该研究计划的总体目标是描述听者在流利讲话中识别单词的过程。在这种情况下，单词识别几乎包含了我们接触到的所有句子中的单词，需要一个非常复杂的系统，能够快速准确地从我们大脑词汇库中的数千个替代词中实时识别单词。这个过程需要将声学/语音信息结合起来创造听觉形式的机制，当这些听觉形式与意义联系起来时，就成为词典中的条目。口语识别理论尚未解决的问题是(a)在词汇中用来表示听觉词形的单位，(b)在言语的时间展开过程中，这些单位是用来访问词汇候选者的，(c)如何组织这些单位来表示词汇中的单词，以及(d)当面对输入的声音模式的系统变化时，声音到意义的映射如何重新组织。我们在成人和儿童的研究中使用标准判断任务（例如，词汇决策）和眼球运动来解决这些问题，这些任务对语音和词汇处理的时间过程非常敏感，从而允许详细映射异步声学线索是如何整合的，以及词汇候选物是如何动态评估的。许多拟议的实验使用微型人工语言来精确控制自然语言无法实现的声音模式和单词出现的频率。使用人工词典的研究也使我们能够研究词汇学习的过程，以确定新词是如何进入并可能重组当前的词汇表征的。本实验主要关注语境如何调节词汇竞争者的影响，以及线索整合和词汇重组的动态。本研究项目的预期结果将揭示成人和儿童口语词汇识别的基本方面，这些方面对词汇组织和获取模式、正常听者词汇获取效率优化的机制以及经验对成熟和不成熟词汇重组的影响具有重要意义。成功地实现这些具体目标将提供一个知识基础，据此可以为口语识别迟缓或缺陷的儿童和成人制定诊断测试和治疗方案。本资助提案中概述的研究涉及NICDC 2006-08年战略计划草案中概述的四个研究领域中的两个：II。沟通过程的发展、退化、再生和可塑性；知觉，认知和感觉运动加工在正常和紊乱的沟通。

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): The overall goal of the proposed program of research is to characterize the process by which listeners recognize words in fluent speech. Word recognition in this context, which comprises nearly all of our exposure to words in sentences, requires a remarkably sophisticated system that can rapidly and accurately identify words in real-time from among the thousands of alternatives in our mental lexicon. This process entails mechanisms by which acoustic/phonetic information is combined to create auditory word-forms that, when linked to meanings, serve as the entries in the lexicon. Unresolved issues for theories of spoken word recognition are (a) the units used to represent auditory word-forms in the lexicon, (b) when during the temporal unfolding of speech these units are used to access lexical candidates, (c) how these units are organized to represent words in the lexicon, and (d) how the mapping of sounds to meanings is reorganized when confronted with systematic shifts in the sound patterns of the input. We address these questions in studies of adults and children using standard judgment tasks (e.g., lexical decision), and eye movements, which are remarkably sensitive to the time course of speech and lexical processing, thus allowing for a detailed mapping of how asynchronous acoustic cues are integrated and how lexical candidates are evaluated dynamically. Many of the proposed experiments use miniature artificial languages to enable precise control over the sound patterns and frequencies of occurrence of words that cannot be achieved in natural languages. Studies using artificial lexica also enable us to study the process of lexical learning to determine how new words enter into, and may reorganize, the current lexical representation. The proposed experiments focus on (a) how context modulates the effects of lexical competitors, and (b) the dynamics of cue integration and lexical reorganization. The expected outcomes of this program of research will reveal fundamental aspects of spoken word recognition in adults and children that have important implications for models of lexical organization and access, for the mechanism by which the efficiency of lexical access is optimized in normal listeners, and for the effects of experience on the reorganization of both mature and immature lexicons. Successfully addressing these specific aims will provide a base of knowledge from which diagnostic tests and treatment regimens for children and adults with delays or deficits in spoken word recognition can be developed. The research outlined in this grant proposal bears on two of the four research areas outlined in the NICDC draft Strategic Plan for 2006-08: II. Development, Deterioration, Regeneration, and Plasticity of processes mediating communication, and III. Perception, Cognition, and Sensorimotor processing in normal and disordered communication.