Auditory-articulatory representations for speech production

描述（由申请人提供）：本研究的长期目标是了解指导语音产生和感知的神经表征。虽然言语和语言是人类行为的核心特征，但言语过程的神经机制仍然知之甚少。我们将建立在视觉引导达到神经控制的最新进展，以开发语音处理的类似模型。目的1将采用一个伪词重复识别范式来检验言语产生是通过一个发音-发音表征编码在神经活动中的假设。目标2将采用伪词识别范式来检验言语感知是用一种发音-发音表征编码的假设。目标3将试图采用一套互补的伪词来重复目标1和目标2的结果。在患有难治性癫痫的人类患者中，将使用颅内电极直接记录神经活动。我预测，在特定的皮质区支持语音和语言的神经活动将表现出特定的语音发音映射的不变性。这将是言语在听觉空间和发音空间共同加工的证据，并可以解释听觉信号在言语产生中的特殊作用和发音信号在言语感知中的特殊作用。 公共卫生相关性：增强型和替代性沟通系统使严重沟通障碍的人能够进行沟通。即使在运动功能严重丧失后，如果有沟通渠道，人们仍然可以保持用语言表达自己的能力。这项研究的长期目标是通过解码支持语音和语言处理的神经表征，使患有严重运动障碍的人能够说话和交流。

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): The long-term goal of this research is to understand the neural representations that guide speech production and perception. While speech and language are central features of human behavior, the neural mechanisms of speech processes remain poorly understood. We will build on recent advances in the neural control of visually-guided reaching to develop analogous models for speech processing. Aim 1 will employ a pseudo- word repetition identification paradigm to test the hypothesis that speech production is encoded in neural activity using an auditory-articulatory representation. Aim 2 will employ a pseudo-word identification paradigm to test the hypothesis that speech perception is encoded using an auditory-articulatory representation. Aim 3 will attempt to replicate findings in Aims 1 and 2 employing a complementary set of pseudo-words. Neural activity will be directly recorded using intracranial electrodes in human patients with pharmacologically- intractable epilepsy. I predict that neural activity in specific cortical areas supporting speech and language will exhibit invariances for particular auditory-articulatory mappings. This will be evidence that speech is processed jointly in auditory space and articulatory space and could explain the specific role of auditory signals in speech production and articulatory signals in speech perception. PUBLIC HEALTH RELEVANCE: Augmentative and alternative communication systems give people with severe communication disorders the ability to communicate. Even after a severe loss of motor function, people can maintain the ability to express themselves with language if they have a communication channel. The long-term goal of this research is to give people with severe motor disorders the ability to speak and communicate by decoding the neural representations that support speech and language processing.