Cognitive Mechanisms of Language Processing

摘要-项目4 听力损失的一个主要问题是可变性。听力受损（HI）的听众与类似的配置文件往往显示， 不同的结果。相关研究表明，信号质量（可听度，频率分离）与 结果。然而，同样重要的是设备体验，认知和大脑功能等因素。是 不清楚这些适应、认知资源或大脑区域如何改善感知。该项目解决 这是通过利用认知科学中描述声音如何映射到 也就是说，关注时间的问题。由于言语是随着时间的推移而展开的， 输入与许多单词兼容。例如，在黄油开始时，信号可以匹配bump，但是 还有巴克正常听力（NH）的听众通过立即激活多个单词来管理这种模糊性， 随着时间的推移而动态竞争。对于HI听众来说，这种自然的模糊性可能更有问题，更容易管理 不同.我们用眼动追踪范式来评估单词识别的动态， 竞争在几百毫秒内展开。先前的工作表明人工耳蜗（CI）用户调整 这些动态不同于NH听众;这些差异与结果相关，可能有助于 科普不良输入。这个项目问为什么这些竞争过程不同的HI听众。真是 差异是由降级输入强加的典型语言处理的一个糟糕版本？或者他们是 补偿性适应以应对不确定性？为了回答这个问题， 在现实世界中，目标1超越了孤立的单词，考察了语义等因素制约的句子 这场比赛。目标2使用纵向研究将竞争差异与外周听觉联系起来 功能（项目2），听力努力（项目1）和皮层处理（项目3）;目标3补充了这一点 进行适应性的实验室研究。目标4研究HI听众如何融合来自不同类型的 例如，来自辅助声学听力和CI的输入。所有目标都利用多种类型的自然变异， HI听众（标准CI、声学+电气CI配置和助听器），以调查 影响语言加工的机制。

ABSTRACT – PROJECT 4 A major issue in hearing loss is variability. Hearing impaired (HI) listeners with similar profiles often show different outcomes. Correlational studies show that signal quality (audibility, frequency separation) is related to outcomes. However, equally important are factors like device experience, cognition and brain function. It is unclear how these adaptations, cognitive resources, or brain areas improve perception. This project tackles this by leveraging mechanisms and measures from cognitive science that describe how sound is mapped to meaning, focusing on the issue of time. Since speech unfolds over time, there are ambiguous periods when the input is compatible with many words. For example, at the onset of butter, the signal could match bump, but and buck. Normal hearing (NH) listeners manage this ambiguity by immediately activating multiple words which compete dynamically over time. For HI listeners, this natural ambiguity may be more problematic and managed differently. We assess the dynamics of word recognition with an eye-tracking paradigm that traces how this competition unfolds over several hundred milliseconds. Prior work suggests cochlear implant (CI) users tune these dynamics differently than NH listeners; these differences are correlated with outcomes and may help cope with poor input. This project asks why these competition processes differ in HI listeners. Are such differences a poor version of typical language processing imposed by degraded input? Or are they a compensatory adaptation for coping with uncertainty? To answer this question in a way that translates to the real-world, Aim 1 moves beyond isolated words to examine sentences, where factors like semantics constrain this competition. Aim 2 uses a longitudinal study to link differences in competition to peripheral auditory function (Project 2), listening effort (Project 1) and cortical processing (Project 3); and Aim 3 complements this with laboratory studies of adaption. Aim 4 examines how HI listeners fuse information from different types of input, for example, from aided acoustic hearing and a CI. All aims leverage natural variation in multiple types of HI listeners (standard CIs, acoustic+electric CI configurations, and hearing aids) to investigate how differences in the peripheral input impact the mechanisms of language processing.