The interface between spatial cognition and language

描述(由申请者提供)：这个项目考察了儿童对空间事件的认知和语言表征之间的关系。认知和语言发展的经典理论认为，空间概念在很大程度上是普遍的，空间语言(如空间位置、路径和运动的表达)直接映射到预先存在的共享空间范畴。最近的理论指出，空间编码的跨语言差异很大，表明空间认知的重要方面可能不是普遍存在的，但可能是通过接触特定语言中空间关系的编码方式来塑造的。本项目的目的是调查在使用不同语言的人群中空间词汇的加工和习得的基本过程，以便从空间语言的语言独立(可能是普遍的)成分中分离出特定语言的成分。该计划将跨语言行为实验与眼球跟踪方法相结合，使我们能够检查空间描述组装背后的时刻过程，以及在受控实验环境中支持获得新空间术语的过程。这是第一次使用这种融合方法来研究年轻和有经验的说话者在跨语言情况下语言和非语言表征是如何结合在一起的。这种综合方法将从空间事件感知到语言的映射视为一个动态过程，它沿着从毫秒(如计划和理解话语)到数年(如培养说母语的能力)的多个时间尺度展开。这一基础研究计划将为正常语言发展和处理的理论提供信息，并最终可能有助于解释双语人群和有特定语言障碍的儿童的语言和概念发展。为该项目开发的眼球跟踪技术可以为语言和认知发育不典型的儿童提供干预，并在某种形式上诊断不同类型脑损伤或失语症患者的认知和语言障碍。我们的工具箱也可以用来为双语研究提供信息(例如，通过调查语言和心理表征之间的联系)。

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): This project examines the relationship between cognitive and linguistic representations of spatial events in children. Classic theories of cognitive and linguistic development assume that spatial concepts are largely universal and that spatial language (e.g. the expression of spatial locations, paths and motions) maps directly onto preexisting, shared spatial categories. More recent theories, pointing to wide cross-linguistic differences in spatial encoding, suggest that important aspects of spatial cognition may not be universal but may be shaped by exposure to the way spatial relations are encoded within a specific language. The goal of this project is to investigate the processes underlying both the processing and the acquisition of spatial vocabulary in populations speaking different languages so as to disentangle language-specific from language- independent (potentially universal) components of spatial language. The proposed plan combines cross-linguistic behavioral experiments with eye tracking methods, allowing us to examine the moment-by-moment processes underlying the assembly of spatial descriptions, as well as the processes supporting the acquisition of novel spatial terms in controlled experimental settings. This is the first time this combination of convergent methods has been used to study how linguistic and nonlinguistic representations come together in the minds of young and more experienced speakers cross-linguistically. This integrated approach views the mapping from spatial event perception to language as a dynamic process, one that unfolds along multiple time scales ranging from milliseconds (as in planning and understanding utterances) to years (as in developing the ability to speak one's native language). This basic research program will inform theories of normal language development and processing and may ultimately contribute to accounts of linguistic and conceptual development in bilingual populations and children with specific language impairments. The eye tracking techniques developed for this project can lead to interventions for children with atypical linguistic and cognitive development, and in some form serve as a diagnostic of cognitive and linguistic difficulties in patients with different types of brain lesions or aphasias. Our toolbox could also be used to inform studies of bilingualism (e.g., by investigating connections between language and mental representation).