Adaptive sensorimotor learning in speech production

 描述（由申请人提供）：感觉运动学习在所有熟练动作的获得和改进中起着关键作用，包括言语产生。从早期牙牙学语到完全成熟的言语清晰度，中枢神经系统获得并更新从运动命令到声道运动和语音输出的复杂运动到听觉转换的神经表征。此外，认知运动学习--通过这种神经表征被学习和维持的过程--被认为在发育性言语障碍如口吃和儿童言语失用症的病因学中起着重要作用。因此，这一系列的六个综合实验，旨在获得更好的理解的原则和机制，在言语感觉运动学习的一般，特别是在言语运动学习。研究的总体方案是围绕双重短期目标设计的：（a）优化神经运动适应的速率和程度，（B）最大限度地减少去适应（感觉运动学习的衰退）的速率和程度。这些研究的结果也将阐明儿童时期的动作-动作学习的发展进程以及儿童和成人之间的动作-动作学习的差异。此外，鉴于言语-运动适应研究的核心实验范式导致说话者在短时间内自动改变其言语输出，而无需指导，也无需 这项研究计划的一个长期目标是开发新的计算机辅助临床程序，通过系统地改变说话者的听觉反馈来诱导言语运动行为的适应性变化。因此，这项工作与公共卫生的直接相关性在于，所产生的知识将直接有助于深入研究 了解典型的语言发展，在整个生命周期中保持语言清晰度技能，以及发展性语言障碍的基本感觉运动机制，同时为治疗各种语言障碍的高度创新的临床技术铺平了道路。

 DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): Sensorimotor learning plays a critical role in the acquisition and refining of all skilled movements, including speech production. From early babbling to fully mature speech articulation, the central nervous system acquires and updates neural representations of the intricate motor-to-auditory transformations that take place from the generation of motor commands to vocal tract movements and speech sound output. Moreover, auditory-motor learning - the process through which such neural representations are learned and maintained - is believed to play an important role in the etiology of developmental speech disorders such as stuttering and childhood apraxia of speech. This series of six integrated experiments therefore seeks to gain a better understanding of the principles and mechanisms involved in speech sensorimotor learning in general and in auditory-motor learning in particular. The overall program of research is designed around the dual short-term goals of (a) optimizing the rate and extent of auditory-motor adaptation, and (b) minimizing the rate and extent of de-adaptation (decay of sensorimotor learning). The findings from these studies will also elucidate the developmental progression of auditory-motor learning during childhood as well as differences in auditory-motor learning between children and adults. Furthermore, given that the core experimental paradigm for auditory-motor adaptation studies causes speakers to automatically alter their speech output in a short period of time, without instruction, and without effort, one long-term goal of the proposed research program is to develop novel, computer-assisted clinical procedures that induce adaptive changes in speech motor behavior by systematically altering the speaker's auditory feedback. Thus, this work's direct relevance to public health lies in the fact that the generated knowledge will contribute directly to an in-depth understanding of typical speech development, the maintenance of speech articulation skills throughout the lifespan, and fundamental sensorimotor mechanisms underlying developmental speech disorders, while simultaneously paving the way for highly innovative clinical techniques for the treatment of a wide variety of speech disorders.