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。我们将在视觉引导到达的神经控制方面取得最新进展，以开发语音处理的类似模型。目的1将采用伪单词重复识别范式来检验语音产生是使用听觉-发音表征在神经活动中编码的假设。目的2将采用一个伪词识别范式来测试语音感知是使用听觉-发音表征编码的假设。目标3将尝试复制目标1和目标2的发现，采用一组互补的假词。神经活动将直接记录使用颅内电极的人类患者的药物顽固性癫痫。我预测，在支持言语和语言的特定皮质区域的神经活动，对于特定的听觉-发音映射，将表现出不变性。这将是语音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语音产生和发音信号在语音感知中的具体作用。

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.