Neural Systems For Infant Sensitivity to Phonological Rhythmic-Temporal Patterning

婴儿对语音节律时间模式敏感的神经系统

• 批准号: 9193903
• 负责人: Adam Stone
• 金额: $ 4.36万
• 依托单位: GALLAUDET UNIVERSITY
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 财政年份: 2016
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2016-08-01 至 2017-07-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/9193903
• 关键词: Address; Adult; Age; Attention; Auditory; Beginning of Life; Bilateral; Brain; Cell Nucleus; Child; Code; Cognitive; Complex; Data; Development; Elements; Equation; Eye; Frequencies; Goals; Growth; Hearing; Hearing Impaired Persons; Human; Infant; Investigation; Knowledge; Language; Language Delays; Language Development; Language Disorders; Learning; Left; Life; Light; Linguistics; Link; Machine Learning; Modality; Nature; Near-Infrared Spectroscopy; Neurobiology; Outcome; Pattern; Phonetics; Play; Process; Property; Reading; Reading Disorder; Recruitment Activity; Research; Risk; Role; Sign Language; Signal Transduction; Site; Speech; Stimulus; Stream; Structure; Superior temporal gyrus; System; Testing; Time; Tissues; Vision; Visual; Vocabulary; adjudicate; base; cognitive neuroscience; experience; gaze; hemodynamics; infancy; insight; language perception; neural circuit; novel; phonology; reading difficulties; relating to nervous system; response; sensory stimulus; social; sound; success; syntax

PROJECT SUMMARY Human infants are understood to begin life with a complex of brain mechanisms and sensitivities to environmental and social factors that, together, appear to contribute to our species' unique ability to learn language. However, we are only beginning to understand the nature and development of these brain mechanisms and sensitivities, especially as they contribute to the central question posed here: How does the infant discover the finite set of phonetic units in their native language from the infinite combinations of sensory stimuli around them? One hypothesis proposes that infants are born with sensitivities to specific rhythmic-temporal patterning at the nucleus of human language phonology in both spoken and signed language, which permits segmentation and categorization of the continuously varying linguistic stream. We suggest that the superior temporal gyrus (STG) is a key neural site that governs this capacity and is the brain mechanism that enables infants' sensitivity to the rhythmic-temporal patterning from which it will build all the words and sentences of its native languages. While it has been suggested that babies are born with sensitivity to rhythmic-temporal patterns in maximal contrasts at around 1 to 1.5 Hz, the precise frequencies to which babies are biologically attracted to remain unknown. In addition, we do not know if this sensitivity is linked to only the pure timing of the signal (the temporal-general property), or also requires the alternation of maximally contrastive units present in both signed and speech phonology (the phonology-specific property). We use integrated functional Near Infrared Spectroscopy (fNIRS) and Tobii eye tracking to examine deaf and hearing infants' response to sign phonetic-syllabic units and moving point-light scenes presented at different frequencies (.5, 1.5, 3 Hz) at a key developmental age, 5-6 months to adjudicate whether infants are sensitive to the temporal-general property or also to the phonology-specific property within rhythmic-temporal patterning. [[The proposed study addresses if humans are born with neural tissue dedicated to acquisition of phonology, and clarifies on a modality-free level how this tissue may interact with auditory or visual functions.]] Discovering the properties of rhythmic-temporal patterning to which babies are biologically attracted will advance our knowledge about how babies discover the core parts of their languages. The use of signed language stimuli allows us to determine whether infants are sensitive to general temporal patterns or to specific linguistic phonetic contrasts, [[advancing our knowledge of]] language acquisition universals. We will gain insight into how experience-dependent brain changes provide infants with the neural circuitry necessary for learning [[the phonology of their]] language(s), allowing us to support clinicians in identifying infants at risk for phonology-based language and reading disorders. Finally, this first-ever developmental neurobiological investigation of signed language perception will permit new understanding of the importance of early visual language experience for learning and reading outcomes in deaf children, and indeed, all children.

项目总结 据了解，人类婴儿出生时具有复杂的大脑机制和对 环境和社会因素似乎共同造就了我们人类学习语言的独特能力。 然而，我们才刚刚开始了解这些大脑机制和敏感性的性质和发展， 尤其是当他们对这里提出的中心问题做出贡献时：婴儿如何发现有限的语音集合 从他们周围的感觉刺激的无限组合中获得他们母语中的单位？ 一种假说认为，婴儿在出生时对特定的节奏-时间模式具有敏感性 口语和手语中人类语言音系学的核心，它允许分割和 对不断变化的语流进行分类。我们认为，颞上回(STG)是 控制这种能力的神经部位，也是使婴儿对节奏-时间敏感的大脑机制 它将以此为基础构建其母语的所有单词和句子。虽然有人建议说 婴儿出生时对最大对比度为1至1.5赫兹的节律-时间模式敏感，这是准确的 婴儿在生物学上被吸引到的频率仍然未知。此外，我们不知道这种敏感性是不是 仅与信号的纯定时相关联(时间一般属性)，或者还需要最大值的交替 对比单位既存在于手语音系学中，也存在于语音音系学中(音系学特有的属性)。我们使用集成的 功能性近红外光谱分析和Tobii眼动监测对聋儿和听力障碍婴儿的影响 在一个键上以不同频率(0.5、1.5、3赫兹)呈现的符号语音-音节单位和移动的点光场景 发育年龄，5-6个月来判断婴儿是对时间-一般属性敏感还是对 韵律-时间模式中的音系学特性。 [[拟议的研究涉及人类是否与生俱来就有致力于获得语音的神经组织，以及 在非模态水平上阐明该组织如何与听觉或视觉功能相互作用。]]发现 婴儿在生物学上被吸引的节律-时间模式的特性将促进我们对 婴儿如何发现他们语言的核心部分。手语刺激的使用使我们能够确定 婴儿对一般的时间模式或特定的语言语音对比都很敏感 语言习得的普遍性。我们将深入了解依赖经验的大脑变化如何为婴儿提供 通过学习[他们的音系学]语言所需的神经回路(S)，使我们能够支持临床医生在 识别基于语音的语言和阅读障碍的风险婴儿。最后，这是有史以来第一次 对手语知觉的神经生物学研究将使人们对早期手语感知的重要性有新的理解 视觉语言体验对聋儿，甚至所有儿童的学习和阅读结果的影响。