The Neuro-cognition of Word Comprehension

描述（由申请人提供）：理解单词所涉及的心理和潜在的神经（神经认知）操作是基于语言的交流的基础。了解大脑如何在不到半秒的时间内从大约五万种可能性中识别出单个单词，一直是心理学、神经科学和教育理论家面临的持续挑战。找到这个问题和相关问题的答案将代表基础语言科学向前迈出的一大步，而且也将提供一个框架，帮助隔离某些发展性语言障碍中神经认知缺陷的部位。拟议研究的总体目标是从神经认知的角度继续我们对单词理解过程的研究。该提案中概述的实验重点是提供有关时间动态 (ERP) 以及构成单词理解基础的神经网络的空间组织（MEG 和 fMRI）问题的答案。拟议的研究有四个具体目标。在目标 1 中，我们建议测试一系列关于视觉单词理解时间动态的预测，这些预测源自我们最近阐述的文字处理双模态交互式激活模型 (BIAM)。建议使用我们熟知的 ERP 掩蔽启动范例以及两种新的实验技术进行实验。我们还将在三个新方向上扩展我们的研究范围。在目标 2 中，我们提出了一系列新颖的 ERP 研究，旨在使用我们新开发的二分启动任务将我们的理解研究扩展到听觉模式。这些研究将使我们能够更好地阐述 BIAM 的听觉方面。在目标 3 中，我们提出了在视觉和口语文字处理之间的界面上测试 BIAM 预测的实验，我们假设这一水平对于学习阅读的过程至关重要。最后，在目标 4 中，我们建议通过使用多模态成像技术来增强我们在单词理解的时间动态方面的工作。这将提供有关单词理解所涉及的神经网络空间组织的急需信息，并使我们能够向单词理解的 BIAM 添加解剖学组件。我们的长期目标是将这些研究扩展到正常儿童以及那些有文字处理缺陷（包括阅读障碍和 SLI）的儿童。

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): The mental and underlying neural (neuro-cognitive) operations involved in the comprehension of words are fundamental to language based communication. Understanding how the brain identifies individual words from around fifty thousand or so possibilities in less than half a second, has been a continuing challenge for theorists in psychology, neuroscience and education. Finding the answer to this and related questions would represent a major step forward in basic language science, but also would provide a framework for helping isolate the neuro-cognitive locus of deficits in certain developmental language disorders. The overall goal of the proposed research is to continue our study of word comprehension processes from a neuro-cognitive perspective. The experiments outlined in this proposal are focused on providing answers to questions about the temporal dynamics (ERPs) and now the spatial organization (MEG and fMRI) of the neural networks that underlie the comprehension of words. The proposed research has four specific aims. In Aim 1 we propose to test a series of predictions about the temporal dynamics of visual word comprehension derived from our recently elaborated Bi-modal Interactive Activation Model (BIAM) of word processing. Experiments are proposed that use our well understood ERP masked priming paradigm, as well as two new novel experimental techniques. We will also extend the scope of our research in three new directions. In Aim 2 we propose a novel series of ERP studies designed to expand our study of comprehension to the auditory modality using our newly developed dichotic priming task. These studies will allow us to better elaborate the auditory side of the BIAM. In Aim 3 we propose experiments that test predictions from the BIAM at the interface between visual and spoken word processing, a level we hypothesize is critical to the process of learning to read. Finally, in Aim 4 we propose to augment our work on the temporal dynamics of word comprehension by using multi-modal imaging techniques. This will provide much needed information about the spatial organization of the neural networks involved in word comprehension and will allow us to add an anatomical component to our BIAM of word comprehension. Our long term goal is to extend these studies to normal children as well as those with word processing deficits including dyslexia and SLI.