Nature and Acquisition of Speech Code

描述(由申请人提供)：我们的总体目标是加深我们对语言使用者语言能力的语音成分的理解，因为它在演讲和阅读中发挥作用。这项拟议的研究继续进行了一系列调查，这些发现促进了我们对1)语音感知和产生机制的理解，2)语音编码在跨对比写作系统熟练阅读中的作用，3)语音缺陷在阅读障碍(RD)中的中心性， 4)与熟练阅读和非典型阅读发展相关的神经回路。我们建议使用各种方法(包括功能磁共振成像、近红外光谱和计算建模)来解决三个首要目标。首先，开发一个综合的计算框架来解释语音过程的性质，语音在阅读中的作用，以及语音障碍和学习阅读困难之间的联系；第二，通过研究导致个人对口语和书面语言理解(理解意义)的差异的认知和神经生物学过程，扩展这项迄今集中在单词水平处理的工作。第三，多年来对阅读障碍的语音缺陷的研究达到顶峰，我们使用纵向跟踪和大脑/行为综合测量来检验一个特定的假设，该假设将识字前儿童阅读失败的根源直接置于言语感知和言语产生的大脑机制中。

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): Our general objective is to further our understanding of the phonological component of language users' linguistic competence as it functions in speech and reading. The proposed research continues a line of investigation that has produced notable discoveries that have advanced our understanding of 1) the mechanisms of speech perception and production, 2) the role of phonological coding in skilled reading across contrastive writing systems, 3) the centrality of phonological deficits in reading disability (RD), and 4) the neural circuitry associated with skilled reading and with atypical reading development. We propose to employ a variety of methodologies (including fMRI, NIRS, and computational modeling) to address three overarching goals. First, to develop an integrative computational framework that explains the nature of phonological processes, the role of phonology in reading, and the association between phonological impairments and difficulties in learning to read and second, to extend this work, heretofore centered on word level processing, by examining those cognitive and neurobiological processes that contribute to individual differences in comprehension (understanding meaning) of spoken and written language. Third, culminating years of research on the phonological deficits in reading disability, we employ longitudinal tracking and integrated brain/behavior measures to test a specific hypothesis that places the origins of reading failure in preliterate children directly in the brain mechanisms for speech perception and speech production.