Time course of spoken word recognition

描述（由申请人提供）：拟议的研究计划的总体目标是描述听众在流利的语音中识别单词的过程。在这种情况下，单词识别几乎包括了我们在句子中接触到的所有单词，需要一个非常复杂的系统，可以从我们心理词典中的数千个备选项中快速准确地实时识别单词。这个过程需要一些机制，通过这些机制，声学/语音信息被结合起来，创造出听觉上的词形，当这些词形与意义相联系时，就成为词典中的词条。口语单词识别理论尚未解决的问题是（a）用于表示词典中的听觉单词形式的单元，（B）在语音的时间展开期间，这些单元何时用于访问词汇候选，（c）如何组织这些单元以表示词典中的单词，以及（d）当面对输入的声音模式的系统性变化时，声音到意义的映射是如何重组的。我们在成人和儿童的研究中使用标准判断任务（例如，词汇决定）和眼球运动，这对语音和词汇处理的时间过程非常敏感，从而允许详细映射如何整合异步声学线索以及如何动态评估词汇候选项。许多拟议中的实验使用微型人工语言来精确控制自然语言无法实现的声音模式和单词出现频率。使用人工词汇的研究也使我们能够研究词汇学习的过程，以确定新词如何进入，并可能重组，当前的词汇表征。拟议的实验重点关注（a）语境如何调节词汇竞争者的影响，以及（B）线索整合和词汇重组的动态。该研究计划的预期成果将揭示成人和儿童的口语单词识别的基本方面，这些方面对词汇组织和访问模式具有重要影响，对正常听众优化词汇访问效率的机制，以及经验对成熟和不成熟词汇重组的影响。成功地解决这些具体目标将提供一个知识基础，从该基础上可以开发出针对口语识别延迟或缺陷的儿童和成人的诊断测试和治疗方案。本赠款建议中概述的研究涉及NICDC 2006-08年战略计划草案中概述的四个研究领域中的两个：发展，恶化，再生，和调解沟通过程的可塑性，和III。知觉，认知和感觉运动处理在正常和混乱的沟通。

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): The overall goal of the proposed program of research is to characterize the process by which listeners recognize words in fluent speech. Word recognition in this context, which comprises nearly all of our exposure to words in sentences, requires a remarkably sophisticated system that can rapidly and accurately identify words in real-time from among the thousands of alternatives in our mental lexicon. This process entails mechanisms by which acoustic/phonetic information is combined to create auditory word-forms that, when linked to meanings, serve as the entries in the lexicon. Unresolved issues for theories of spoken word recognition are (a) the units used to represent auditory word-forms in the lexicon, (b) when during the temporal unfolding of speech these units are used to access lexical candidates, (c) how these units are organized to represent words in the lexicon, and (d) how the mapping of sounds to meanings is reorganized when confronted with systematic shifts in the sound patterns of the input. We address these questions in studies of adults and children using standard judgment tasks (e.g., lexical decision), and eye movements, which are remarkably sensitive to the time course of speech and lexical processing, thus allowing for a detailed mapping of how asynchronous acoustic cues are integrated and how lexical candidates are evaluated dynamically. Many of the proposed experiments use miniature artificial languages to enable precise control over the sound patterns and frequencies of occurrence of words that cannot be achieved in natural languages. Studies using artificial lexica also enable us to study the process of lexical learning to determine how new words enter into, and may reorganize, the current lexical representation. The proposed experiments focus on (a) how context modulates the effects of lexical competitors, and (b) the dynamics of cue integration and lexical reorganization. The expected outcomes of this program of research will reveal fundamental aspects of spoken word recognition in adults and children that have important implications for models of lexical organization and access, for the mechanism by which the efficiency of lexical access is optimized in normal listeners, and for the effects of experience on the reorganization of both mature and immature lexicons. Successfully addressing these specific aims will provide a base of knowledge from which diagnostic tests and treatment regimens for children and adults with delays or deficits in spoken word recognition can be developed. The research outlined in this grant proposal bears on two of the four research areas outlined in the NICDC draft Strategic Plan for 2006-08: II. Development, Deterioration, Regeneration, and Plasticity of processes mediating communication, and III. Perception, Cognition, and Sensorimotor processing in normal and disordered communication.