Language Processing in Children with Cochlear Implants

描述(申请者提供)：本项目主要研究耳聋儿童人工耳蜗术后的语言处理。虽然早期植入成功地为口语的习得提供了足够的听力，但我们仍然对这些儿童的详细语言结果知之甚少。拟议的项目将考察词汇知识以及理解和说话的过程。其目的是首先提供一个详细的描述，说明植入人工耳蜗的儿童与听力正常的儿童在语言产生和理解的知识和过程方面的比较。我们将比较在3岁之前接受人工耳蜗植入的7-10岁儿童与他们的年龄匹配和他们的词汇理解匹配的正常听力同龄人的表现。该项目包括分成五大组的实验，单词识别的行为研究，单词产生的行为研究。在每个实验组中，我们将检查词汇知识的声音和意义方面，以及这些信息是如何被用来说或理解单词的。将使用两种方法。第一个实验涉及计算机控制的实验，在这些实验中，孩子们必须在听到相关或不相关的单词或相关/不相关的图片时，对他们在列表或名字图片中听到的单词做出判断。通过改变呈现的单词和图片，我们可以对单词产生和理解的潜在知识和过程做出推断。第二种方法仍然是相对较新的，尽管它已经被广泛应用于成年人。通过详细检查儿童的看起来的行为，我们可以推断出发生在口语和理解语言中的无意识过程。我们还将研究短期记忆和注意力对儿童表现的影响。对于一些儿童，我们有关于他们在蹒跚学步时在单词学习实验中的表现的信息，我们可以将这些信息与他们的表现联系起来。该项目与健康有关，因为它将导致针对这些儿童的词汇知识和处理的新的、基于计算机的语言评估和适应方法。

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): This project focuses on language processing in deaf children with cochlear implants. Although early implantation is successful in providing the sufficient audition for the acquisition of oral language, we still know very little about the detailed language outcomes for these children. The proposed project will examine vocabulary knowledge and processing in understanding and speaking. The aim is to provide a first, detailed description of how children with cochlear implants compare to hearing children in the knowledge and processes underlying language production and understanding. We will compare the performance of 7-10 year old children who received cochlear implants before age three to their age-matched and to their vocabulary comprehension-matched normal hearing peers. The project includes experiments that are divided into five major groups, behavioral studies of word recognition, behavioral studies of word production. Within each of these experiment groups, we will examine sound and meaning aspects of vocabulary knowledge and how that information is used to speak or comprehend words. Two methods will be used. The first involves computer-controlled experiments in which children have to make judgments about words they hear in a list or name pictures while hearing a related or unrelated word or a related/unrelated picture. By varying the words and pictures presented and we can make inferences about the underlying knowledge and processes of word production and understanding. The second method is still relatively new, though it has been widely used with adults. By examining children's looking behavior in detail we can infer the unconscious processes that occur in spoken and comprehended language. We will also examine the effects of short-term memory and attention on the children's performance. For some children, we have information about how they performed as toddlers on word learning experiments that we can relate to their performance. The project is health related in that it will lead to novel, computer-based methods for language assessment and habilitation directed towards vocabulary knowledge and processing for these children.