Picture Naming Electrified: Brain Electrophysiological Correlates

描述(由申请人提供)：产生语音涉及在认知水平上处理语言信息(以下称为心理语言学规划)，同时在言语运动水平上保持控制。言语语言病理学家在成人口吃的诊断和治疗中密切关注后者，而很少关注驱动言语产生的认知机制的表现。心理语言计划在很大程度上涉及到在说话过程中对词汇知识的认知加工；在某种程度上，这一加工可以通过图片命名来引发。驱动图片命名的三种心理语言学机制是：1)激活扩散。在图片命名的道路上，词汇被激活，并在心理词典中竞争选择。2)词汇提取。当一个词被选择时，它的语义和语音特征被检索并用于生成语言蓝图或表层结构。3)内部错误监控。在将语言蓝图转换为语音运动之前，对其准确性进行监控。流利和准确的讲话不仅取决于语音运动控制，还取决于这些机制的运行效率。因此，一个至关重要的目标是描述成年人口吃(AWS)的心理语言机制。到目前为止，进行的行为心理语言学研究在实现这一目标方面的能力一直有限。在这里，将使用一种创新的认知神经科学方法，涉及事件相关电位(ERPs)。事件相关电位是大脑电生理活动的反射性变化，非侵入性地记录在头皮上，可以精确地在毫秒数量级上索引特定的心理机制。当人们准备为图片命名，并对图片名称做出词汇决定时，事件相关电位可以被记录下来。在图片命名的路径上引发的ERP可以包括几个分量，其中一些分量通过分别随着激活传播、词汇检索和内部错误监控实时展开时幅度和潜伏期的变化来响应。在三个实验中，AWS的这些ERP成分将与不结巴的成年人(AWN)进行比较，以回答以下问题：1)激活扩散是否在AWS中典型地进行，正如在图片-单词启动任务中诱发的N400 ERP成分的幅度所证明的那样？2)单词提取在AWS中是否沿着典型的时间进程进行，正如在双选择词汇判断任务中引发的两个ERP成分--侧化准备潜力和NoGo N200--的时间进程中所证明的那样？3)内部错误监控是否在AWS中典型地进行，正如在强迫错误词汇判断任务中引发的错误相关负波的幅度所证明的那样？结果将揭示AWS和AWNS的大脑电生理活动是否在心理语言机制上有所不同，这些机制介导了图片命名路径上词汇知识的激活、提取和监控。这一发现将对开发以心理语言学为重点的口吃临床诊断和干预工具具有重要意义。 公共卫生相关性：尽管有效的心理语言学规划对于流利和准确的言语产出是必不可少的，但心理语言学的表现并不是成人口吃临床诊断和治疗的标准考虑因素。准确地了解AWS是如何激活、提取和监控说话过程中的词汇知识的，可以提高口吃干预的效率，这是培养口吃成年人的心理社会和职业前景的重要目标。这项研究的结果将对开发以心理语言学为重点的口吃评估和治疗工具具有一定的指导意义。

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): Producing speech involves processing linguistic information at a cognitive level (henceforth, psycholinguistic planning) while, simultaneously, maintaining control at a speech motor level. Speech-language pathologists pay close attention to the latter in the diagnosis and treatment of adulthood stuttering, while little if any attention is paid to the performance of the cognitive machinery driving speech production. Psycholinguistic planning largely involves the cognitive processing of lexical knowledge on the path to speaking; processing that can, to some extent, be elicited via picture naming. Three psycholinguistic mechanisms that drive picture naming are: 1) Activation spreading. Words are activated and compete for selection in the mental lexicon on the path to picture naming. 2) Lexical retrieval. When a word is selected its semantic and phonological features are retrieved and used to generate a linguistic blueprint, or surface structure. 3) Internal error monitoring. The linguistic blueprint is monitored for accuracy before being transformed into speech motor movements. Fluent and accurate speaking depends as much on the efficiency with which these mechanisms operate as it does on speech motor control. Thus, a crucially important aim is to characterize psycholinguistic mechanisms in adults who stutter (AWS). Behavioral psycholinguistic research conducted to date has been limited in its ability to meet this aim. Here, an innovative cognitive neuroscientific approach, involving event-related potentials (ERPs), will be utilized. ERPs are reflexive changes in brain electrophysiological activity, recorded non- invasively at the scalp that can index specific psychological mechanisms with precision on the order of milliseconds. ERPs can be recorded as people prepare to name pictures and make lexical decisions about picture names they generate. ERPs elicited on the path to picture naming may comprise several components, some that respond via changes in amplitude and latency as activation spreading, lexical retrieval and internal error monitoring, respectively, unfold in real time. In three experiments, those ERP components will be compared in AWS versus adults who do not stutter (AWNS) to answer the following questions: 1) Does activation spreading operate typically in AWS, as evidenced in the amplitude of the N400 ERP component elicited during a picture-word priming task? 2) Does word retrieval operate along a typical time-course in AWS, as evidenced in the time-course of two ERP components - Lateralized Readiness Potential and NoGo N200 - elicited during a dual-choice lexical decision task? 3) Does internal error monitoring operate typically in AWS, as evidenced in the amplitude of Error Related Negativity elicited during a forced-error lexical decision task? Results will reveal whether brain electrophysiological activity in AWS may differ from that of AWNS in psycholinguistic mechanisms that mediate the activation, retrieval, and monitoring of lexical knowledge on the path to picture naming. Findings will have implications for the development of psycholinguistically-focused clinical diagnostic and intervention tools for stuttering. PUBLIC HEALTH RELEVANCE: Although efficient psycholinguistic planning is requisite for fluent and accurate speech production, psycholinguistic performance is not a standard consideration in the clinical diagnosis and treatment of adulthood stuttering. Understanding precisely how AWS activate, retrieve, and monitor lexical knowledge on the path to speaking could improve the efficacy of intervention for stuttering, an important goal in fostering the psychosocial and vocational prospects of adults who stutter. Results of this research will have implications for the development of psycholinguistically-focused assessment and treatment tools for stuttering.