Nature and Acquisition of Speech Code

描述（由申请人提供）：我们的总体目标是进一步了解语言使用者语言能力的语音成分，因为它在讲话和阅读中起作用。拟议的研究继续了一系列调查，这些调查产生了显着的发现，这些发现促进了我们对以下问题的理解：1）言语感知和产生的机制，2）语音编码在对比写作系统中熟练阅读中的作用，3）语音缺陷在阅读障碍（RD）中的中心地位， （4）与熟练阅读和非典型阅读发展相关的神经回路。我们建议采用各种方法（包括fMRI，NIRS和计算建模）来解决三个首要目标。首先，发展一个综合的计算框架，解释语音过程的本质，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，其次，扩展这项工作，迄今为止集中在单词水平的处理，通过检查那些认知和神经生物学过程，有助于理解的个体差异，（理解意义）口语和书面语。第三，总结多年来对阅读障碍的语音缺陷的研究，我们采用纵向跟踪和整合的大脑/行为措施来测试一个特定的假设，即直接在言语感知和言语产生的大脑机制的地方阅读失败的儿童。

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.