Investigating language with multi-voxel pattern analysis

描述(申请人提供)：我们的目标是将一种重要的新功能神经成像技术，称为多体素模式分析，应用于语音处理的研究。多体素模式分析侧重于用功能磁共振成像(FMRI)测量的大脑激活的分布模式，应用模式分析技术来确定这些模式可能携带的信息。将这项技术应用于视觉处理已经产生了惊人的结果，允许在大脑皮层状态之间进行令人惊讶的细粒度区分，并访问分布式神经表示的相似结构。我们的初步研究表明，多体素模式分析也可能是研究语言神经基础的有力工具，它提供了获得特定项目的语音表征及其相似关系的途径。这项拟议工作的目标是将我们既定的方法应用于有关语音加工的几个关键问题。首先，我们的目标是解决音素在哪里被代表的问题，试图确认几个皮质区域在代表语音信息中的作用。在这些领域中，我们建议研究音素是如何表示的，检查音位表示的相似结构，并将其与单个音素的声学和发音特征联系起来。这部分工作还将研究范畴结构和音脸整合在音素知觉中的神经关联，并测试音素表征中的语境敏感性。该项目的第二个主要目标是使用多体素模式分析来研究在语音处理方面存在缺陷的人群中语音的神经表征，特别是在患有发育性阅读障碍的个体中。最后一个目标是追踪在正常和阅读障碍的个体中，由经验引起的大脑皮质音素表征的变化。这项研究旨在阐明正常和无序语言处理的基本方面，并开创研究语言神经基础的新方法。

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): We aim to apply an important new functional neuroimaging technique, known as multi-voxel pattern analysis, to the study of phonological processing. Multi-voxel pattern analysis focuses on distributed patterns of brain activation, as measured with functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI), applying pattern analytic techniques to determine the information these patterns may carry. Applications of the technique to visual processing have produced dramatic results, allowing surprisingly fine-grained discriminations among cortical states, and accessing the similarity structure of distributed neural representations. Our preliminary research indicates that multi-voxel pattern analysis may also represent a powerful tool for studying the neural basis of language, affording access to item-specific phonological representations and their similarity relations. The objective of the proposed work is to apply our established approach to several key issues concerning phonological processing. First, we aim to address the question of where phonemes are represented, seeking to confirm the role of several cortical regions in representing phonological information. Within these areas, we propose to investigate how phonemes are represented, examining the similarity structure of phonological representations and relating this to the acoustic and articulatory features of individual phonemes. This portion of the work will also investigate the neural correlates of categorical structure and voice-face integration in phoneme perception, and test for context-sensitivity in phoneme representation. A second major goal of the project is to use multi-voxel pattern analysis to investigate the neural representation of phonology in populations displaying deficits in phonological processing, and in particular among individuals with developmental dyslexia. A final aim is to track experience-induced changes in cortical representations of phonology, in both normal and dyslexic individuals. The proposed research is intended to shed light on basic aspects of normal and disordered language processing, as well as to pioneer the application of new methods for studying the neural basis of language.