Basic processes in visual word identification

视觉词识别的基本过程

• 批准号: RGPIN-2017-04628
• 负责人: besner, derek
• 金额: $ 1.82万
• 依托单位: University of Waterloo
• 依托单位国家: 加拿大
• 项目类别: Discovery Grants Program - Individual
• 财政年份: 2018
• 资助国家: 加拿大
• 起止时间: 2018-01-01 至 2019-12-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nserc-crsng.gc.ca/ase-oro/Details-Detailles_eng.asp?id=645369
• 关键词: Basic; processes; visual; word; identification

The ability to read is a skill that is essential to modern living. This skill is acquired, and even university students vary widely in how skilled they are. This skill is also intimately related to attention and automaticity. I hold the view that individual properties of “automaticity” need to be investigated separately. For example, many processes are automatic in the restricted sense that they are unconscious, but the extent to which they use or require different kinds of attention (e.g., spatial attention; central attention; executive attention), are issues that need individual investigation. *** A working hypothesis is that there are various dissociations between these indices, based on my previous research in the last granting period. For example, spatial attention is a necessary preliminary for all word recognition processes, regardless of how skilled the reader is (indeed, simply increasing the spacing between letters in a word helps young dyslexics readers; this occurs because for such readers one of their difficulties is weak spatial attention and hence normally spaced letters crowd each other). In contrast, the need for "central" attention (operationally defined in the context a paradigm where two tasks overlap in time, similar, arguably, to word identification processes on one word overlapping with ongoing comprehension processes for adjacent words) may well vary as a function of skill for various individual processes (sublexical- below the level of the word; lexical-word level, and semantic). Many of our publications in the last granting period have focused on these issues in skilled readers, and in this grant application I continue this line of work, but include the inter-relationships between attention and automaticity (measured and defined in multiple ways) and skill (defined as “reading” skill at the single word level) combined with levels of working memory capacity. I continue to address the issue of which word recognition processes (sublexical, lexical and semantic) require which form of attention, rather than being “automatic”. *** ***The experimental work I am proposing involves the role of (a) spatial attention (b) central attention, (b) executive attention (set), and how they are involved (or not) in sublexical, lexical and semantic level processing as a function of reading skill and working memory capacity. I will utilize both cognitive and cognitive neuroscience paradigms to investigate these issues. The research from my lab is at the forefront of the field which considers the intersection of word recognition and attention, and makes Canada a major player in this endeavour. Importantly, there is an applied payoff for such work given the 2 million people in Canada who are functionally illiterate (as in the example provided above re spatial attention). As for graduate students and post docs who work with me, they can either go into industry (as several have done) or go in academic positions.

阅读能力是现代生活必不可少的技能。这种技能是后天习得的，即使是大学生，他们的技能也相差很大。这种技能也与注意力和自动性密切相关。我认为，“自动性”的个别属性需要单独研究。例如，许多过程在限制意义上是自动的，即它们是无意识的，但是它们使用或需要不同类型的注意力的程度（例如，空间注意力;中央注意力;执行注意力），是需要个别调查的问题。* 一个工作假设是，这些指数之间存在各种分离，基于我在上一个授予期的研究。例如，空间注意力是所有单词识别过程的必要先决条件，无论阅读者的技能如何（事实上，简单地增加单词中字母之间的间距有助于年轻的阅读障碍者;这是因为对于这些阅读者来说，他们的困难之一是空间注意力薄弱，因此正常间距的字母彼此拥挤）。相比之下，对“中央”注意力的需要（在操作上定义为两个任务在时间上重叠的范例，类似于一个单词上的单词识别过程与相邻单词的持续理解过程重叠）可能会随着各种个体过程（词汇下-低于单词水平;词汇-单词水平和语义）的技能而变化。在上一个资助期，我们的许多出版物都集中在熟练读者的这些问题上，在这次资助申请中，我继续这一工作路线，但包括注意力和自动性（以多种方式测量和定义）与技能（定义为“阅读”技能）之间的相互关系，以及工作记忆容量的水平。我继续解决这个问题的单词识别过程（词汇，词汇和语义）需要哪种形式的注意，而不是“自动”。****** 我建议的实验工作涉及（a）空间注意（B）中央注意（B）执行注意（set）的作用，以及它们如何参与（或不参与）作为阅读技能和工作记忆容量的功能的亚词汇、词汇和语义水平的处理。 我将利用认知和认知神经科学范式来研究这些问题。我实验室的研究处于该领域的最前沿，该领域考虑了单词识别和注意力的交叉点，并使加拿大成为这一努力的主要参与者。重要的是，考虑到加拿大有200万人是功能性文盲（如上面提供的关于空间注意力的例子），这种工作有一个应用的回报。至于和我一起工作的研究生和博士后，他们要么进入工业界（就像一些人所做的那样），要么进入学术界。