Eyetracker for language & concepts research group

本提案的目标是更好地了解人们如何理解语言，以及他们如何能够获得使他们能够在当今世界发挥作用的概念和类别。首先关注语言，发展关于人们如何理解他们所读或所听的语言的清晰想法或理论，是发现思维和大脑如何工作的重要组成部分。要理解人们是如何处理语言的，需要对他们每时每刻都在做什么有一个明确的把握。最好的方法之一是精确地跟踪人们在阅读时眼睛的注视点（也就是说，他们正在看什么单词或字母，以及他们看了多久）。另一种方法是呈现与人们听到的语言相关的物体或场景，然后精确地监控人们在听演讲时正在看什么。对场景和语言的巧妙处理可以揭示人们对演讲的理解落后于演讲的程度，或者实际上预测接下来可能会说什么。此外，人们所犯的错误，例如，看一个与口语信息无关的物体，可以揭示语言问题的根源。因此，这项NSERC设备补助金的一个目标是购买一个眼动仪，使我们能够监测正常儿童、成人和诵读困难儿童在处理语言时的注视。使用这种眼动仪的实验结果将有助于发展语言处理理论，以及为语言困难者开发更好的治疗方法。在概念和范畴方面，视觉和语言都是人们形成诸如“狗”或“车辆”等范畴能力的重要方面。类别让我们认识世界上的事物，并对它们做出适当的反应。眼动追踪可以精确地揭示儿童和成人在获取分类所需知识时所做的每时每刻。因此，本提案资助的第二个目标是使用眼动仪更精确地描述人们在获取和使用类别时如何使用语言和视觉信息。

The goals of this proposal are to get a better grasp on how people understand language, and how they are able to acquire the concepts and categories that enable them to function in today's world. Focusing first on language, developing clear ideas or theories regarding how people understand the language that they read or hear is an important part of discovering how the mind and brain work. To understand how people process language requires getting a firm handle on what they are doing moment-to-moment. One of the best ways to do so is to track precisely where people's eyes are fixating as they read (that is, what words or letters they are looking at, and how long they look at them). Another way is to present objects or scenes that are relevant to the language that people are hearing, and then to monitor precisely what people are looking at as they listen to speech. Clever manipulations of scenes and language can uncover the degree to which people's understanding of speech lags behind the speech, or actually anticipates what might be spoken next. Furthermore, errors that people make, for example, looking at an object that is irrelevant to the spoken message, can reveal sources of language problems. Therefore, one goal of this NSERC equipment grant is to purchase an eyetracker that will allow us to monitor the fixations of normal children, adults, and children with dyslexia as they process language. The results of the experiments using this eyetracker will help in developing theories of language processing, as well as developing better therapies for those with language difficulties. In terms of concepts and categories, both vision and language are important aspects of people's ability to form categories such as "dogs" or "vehicles". Categories allow us to recognize things in our world, and to respond to them appropriately. Eyetracking can reveal moment-to-moment aspects of precisely what children and adults are doing when they are acquiring the knowledge necessary for categorization. Therefore, the second goal of this proposal grant is to use the eyetracker to obtain a more precise characterization of how people use both verbal and visual information while they acquire and use categories.