Neural coding and perception of learned vocalizations

项目摘要 听觉和声音是人类交流的主要工具。言语的早期听觉体验 组织围绕母语(S)发音的生活感知。这种早期的听觉处理专门化 促进语言发展并预测成人的熟练程度。而语音的声学特征 由于语言的不同，语音的时间结构在所有语言中都是受限的和层次化的。一个 追求的重要目标是了解我们是如何获得和使用语言的，以及当我们不能使用语言时，哪里出了问题 使用语音正在确定多个时间尺度上的听觉编码与语音交流的关系 结构、发声学习和知觉。我们建议将发声学习中的操作与精确 皮层听觉编码和知觉技能的测量，以确定促进 在鸣禽中，灵活地学习音节结构并限制音节的时间组织(句法)。 拟议中的实验将确定神经机制，通过这种机制，声音交流行为既可以 学习和遗传决定的。这项拟议的研究对NIH任务的意义有三个方面。 首先，这项工作将确定支持发声学习的听觉编码能力。第二，这项工作将考验 声乐学习识别神经和感知机制对声学结构的限制 发声交际行为的特点和时间组织。第三，我们的结果将为我们提供对 经验和训练的操作如何改善言语的预防、诊断和治疗 缺陷，如在患有听觉光谱障碍的儿童中观察到的缺陷。

Project Summary Hearing and voice are the principal instruments of human communication. Early auditory experience of speech organizes perception around native language(s) sounds for life. This early specialization of auditory processing facilitates language development and predicts adult proficiency. While the acoustic features of speech sounds differ across languages, the temporal structure of speech is constrained and hierarchical in all languages. An important goal in the pursuit to understand how we acquire and use speech and what goes wrong when we can’t use speech is determining how auditory encoding on multiple time scales relates to vocal communication structure, vocal learning and perception. We propose to integrate manipulations in vocal learning with precise measures of cortical auditory encoding and perceptual skills to determine the encoding properties that promote flexible learning of syllable structure and constrain the temporal organization of syllables (syntax), in songbirds. The proposed experiments will identify neural mechanisms whereby vocal communication behavior is both learned and genetically-determined. The significance of the proposed research to the NIH mission is three-fold. First, this work will identify auditory encoding capacities that support vocal learning. Second, the work will test the limits of vocal learning to identify neural and perceptual mechanisms that impose structure on the acoustic features and temporal organization of vocal communication behavior. Third, our results will provide insights into how manipulations of experience and training can improve the prevention, diagnosis and treatment of speech deficits such as those observed in children with auditory spectrum disorders.