Syntactic control of lexical activation during speech production - Resubmission - 1

项目摘要/摘要 语言是人类的一个重要特征。没有其他动物有能力系统地排列单词或 符号，以便交流复杂的思想，这种复杂的交流也几乎没有发挥核心作用 在其他物种中扮演的角色。根据NIDCD的数据，美国大约有100万人患有某种形式的 失语症，或语言能力的丧失。其后果对个人和家庭都是毁灭性的。 语言的力量来自一种独特的进化发展：句法，即允许我们 将有限的单词组合成无限多个可能的字符串。没有句法，沟通是费力的，而且 容易出错。尽管它是中枢，但人们对它的神经实例化知之甚少。之前的研究已经 我试图实验性地分离句法，以便在大脑中定位它，但这种方法产生了好坏参半的结果 和不一致的结果。我们采用了一种新的方法，使用皮层脑电(ECoG)来调查一口井- 句法的定义成分：按句法确定的顺序排序或选择单词。 在神经层面上理解句法的一个主要障碍是粒度不匹配问题。 神经科学倾向于处理更广泛的概念差异，实验操作证明了这一点 尝试隔离所有语法。然而，心理语言学模型倾向于更细粒度，描绘 语法能力是过程和表示的集合体，而不是可以 被打开或关闭。在这里，我们利用计算上显式的模型来将假设与 认知过程和相应的神经机制。例如，排序在关键上依赖于 用于将特定单词链接到句法树中的位置的绑定机制。这一点的中心假设是 建议将句法和单词之间的绑定实例化为编码区域之间的神经同步 语法和那些编码单词。 我们的方法有很多优点。(1)由于ECoG对生产伪像基本不敏感，我们将采用 产生式范式，允许我们比传统的语法过程更清楚地隔离特定的语法过程 理解力研究。(2)ECoG具有无与伦比的时空分辨率。(3)我们的研究没有得出 不仅来自神经科学的发现，而且来自计算机显式的心理语言学模型，允许我们测试 有很大可能至少部分正确的假设。 该项目利用申请者在语言学和认知心理学方面的专业知识，并对此进行补充 有神经科学和信号处理方面的额外培训背景。申请者将被嵌入一个 世界一流的研究和临床环境，有专门的导师，他们是ECoG和 语言的神经生物学。这些发现将加深我们对正常运作的沟通的理解， 根据NIDCD的第一个优先领域，通过阐明词序缺陷所影响的机制， 这在包括失语症和特定语言障碍在内的一系列疾病中很常见。

Project Summary/Abstract Language is a defining feature of being human. No other animal has the ability to systematically order words or signs so as to communicate complex thoughts, nor does such complex communication play nearly as central a role in other species. According to the NIDCD, roughly 1 million people in the United States have some form of aphasia, or loss of linguistic ability. The consequences are devastating for individuals and families. The power of language derives from a unique evolutionary development: syntax, the abstract rules that allow us to combine finite words into infinitely many possible strings. Without syntax, communication is painstaking and error-prone. Despite its centrality, little remains known about its neural instantiation. Previous research has attempted to experimentally isolate syntax so as to localize it in the brain, but this approach has produced mixed and inconsistent results. We take a novel approach, using electrocorticography (ECoG) to investigate a well- defined component of syntax: sequencing, or selecting words in an order determined by syntax. A main impediment to progress in understanding syntax at the neural level is a granularity mismatch problem. Neuroscience tends to deal in broader conceptual distinctions, as evidenced by experimental manipulations that attempt to isolate all of syntax. However, psycholinguistic models tend to be much finer grained, portraying syntactic abilities as a conglomerate of processes and representations rather than a monolithic entity that can be turned on or off. Here, we leverage computationally explicit models to make linking hypotheses between cognitive processes and commensurate neural mechanisms. For instance, sequencing critically relies on a binding mechanism for linking particular words to positions in a syntactic tree. The central hypothesis of this proposal is that binding between syntax and words is instantiated as neural synchrony between regions encoding syntax and those encoding words. Our approach has a number of strengths. (1) As ECoG is largely insensitive to production artifacts, we will employ a production paradigm, allowing us to more clearly isolate particular syntactic processes than traditional comprehension studies. (2) ECoG has unparalleled spatial and temporal resolution. (3) Our research draws not only from findings in neuroscience, but from computationally explicit psycholinguistic models, allowing us to test hypotheses that have a high probability of being at least partially correct. This project leverages the applicant’s expertise in linguistics and cognitive psychology, and complements this background with additional training in neuroscience and signal processing. The applicant will be embedded in a world-class research and clinical environment, with dedicated mentors who are leading experts in ECoG and the neurobiology of language. The findings will deepen our understanding of normally functioning communication, in line with the NIDCD’s first priority area, by shedding light on the mechanisms affected in word order deficits, which are common in a range of disorders including aphasia and specific language impairment.