Coarticulatory cues in the recognition of spoken words

描述（由申请人提供）：语音理解涉及基于歧义信息的多层次分析的离散分类。要解释这些隐式选择的非凡速度和准确性，需要仔细研究这一过程的时间动态；听者带来的先验信息，以及引导听者理解说话者意图的分析机制。在拟议的研究中，这些过程的性质进行了实证调查，使用元音预期鼻化作为一个测试案例，在儿童和成人。这种情况对于这些目的来说是理想的，因为元音鼻化的变化对成人的翻译有明显的影响，可以通过实验来操纵。鼻音和口音的对比为我们提供了一个窗口，让我们了解听者在理解语音的过程中是如何产生默认值和偏见的。该项目侧重于评估证据与先前预期的时间过程。为此，本研究将采用最近发展起来的“视觉世界”眼动追踪范式。在这个范例中，当参与者按照口头指示点击电脑屏幕上显示的四个图片物体中的一个（例如，“点击罐头”）时，他们的眼球运动被监控。当听到所指物体的声音模式时产生的眼动模式被用来反映对声音信号的持续词汇解释。此外，眼睛注视视觉指涉物是一种可用于幼儿的测量方法，允许比较成人和幼儿对协同发音线索的处理。

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): Speech comprehension involves discrete categorization at multiple levels of analysis based upon ambiguous information. Explaining the extraordinary speed and accuracy with which these choices are implicitly made requires close examination of the temporal dynamics of the process; the prior information listeners bring to bear, and the analytical mechanisms that guide listeners to the speaker's intended meaning. In the proposed research, the nature of these processes is investigated empirically using anticipatory nasalization in vowels as a test case, both in children and adults. This case is ideal for these purposes because variation in vowel nasalization, which has clearly demonstrable effects on interpretation in adults, can be experimentally manipulated. The contrast between nasal and oral vowels offers a window into how listeners' defaults and biases are exercised, as speech is comprehended. The project focuses on the time course with which evidence is evaluated with respect to prior expectations. To this end, the proposed research will make use of a recently developed paradigm, the "visual world" eye-tracking paradigm. In this paradigm, participants' eye movements are monitored as they follow spoken instructions to click on one of four pictured objects displayed on a computer screen (e.g., "Click on the can"). The pattern of eye movements generated as the sound pattern of the referent object is heard is taken to reflect the ongoing lexical interpretation of the acoustic signal. Furthermore, eye gaze to visual referents is a measure that can be used with young children, permitting to compare the processing of coarticulatory cues in adults and young children.