Exploring the format of sensorimotor information in human speech perception

早期语言学习的一个标志是婴儿最初对语言的感知很好，但直到后来才有相应的高级语言产生方式。因此，目前还不清楚如何常见的，成人的言语感知和生产之间的高度互动的联系发展。我将在NSERC的支持下探索的一种可能性是，关于非言语手势（如咀嚼、吮吸或呼吸）的感觉和运动（感觉运动）信息，这些都是出生后不久产生的手势，与婴儿的言语感知相互作用，这是言语感知和产生之间类似成人的相互作用的前兆。我还将询问非言语手势信息是否以及如何继续告知成年人的言语感知。我提出的研究的长期目标是：a）了解关于所有类型的发声运动控制（言语或非言语）的感觉运动信息是否以及如何与言语感知相关联; B）了解这些信息的格式在整个生命周期中如何变化。在短期内，我将专注于研究言语感知和非言语手势之间的相互作用，如咀嚼，吮吸或呼吸，因为这些都是婴儿和成人都可以产生的声道手势。将对4至18个月大的婴儿进行调查，因为这是言语产生能力发生巨大发展变化的时期，我的研究小组将使用父母问卷等经典工具进行测量，但也使用计算方法（例如，全天音频记录的自然语言处理），以及婴儿面部肌肉激活的肌电图记录。我的研究小组也将在成人中探索类似的问题，调查呼吸或咀嚼/吸吮手势的更精确的元素如何影响成人的言语感知，如嘴唇运动的动态特性，或呼吸时气流的方向和速度。** 这项研究对语言学，言语科学，心理学和神经科学的研究具有重要的科学意义，因为现在对早期发声发展如何影响或塑造人类言语感知的学习知之甚少，反之亦然。这项工作也将有重要的临床应用，因为理解感知和运动系统之间的相互作用的语音是至关重要的区分，诊断和治疗语音病理与感知或运动的起源。

A hallmark of early speech learning is that infants initially perceive speech well, but do not have correspondingly advanced ways of producing speech until later ages. It thus remains unclear how the commonly observed, and highly interactive links between adult speech perception and production develop. A possibility I will explore with NSERC support is that sensory and motor (sensorimotor) information about non-speech gesturessuch as chewing, sucking, or breathing, which are all gestures produced soon after birthinteract with infant speech perception, which is a precursor of adult-like interactions between speech perception and production. I will also ask whether and how non-speech gesture information may continue to inform adult speech perception.******The long-term goals of my proposed research are a) to understand whether and how sensorimotor information about all types of vocal motor control, speech or non-speech, are linked to speech perception, and b) to understand how the format of this information changes throughout the lifespan. In the short-term I will focus on studying the interactions between speech perception and non-speech gestures like chewing, sucking, or breathing, as these are vocal tract gestures that can be produced by both infants and adults.******Infants from 4 to 18 months of age will be investigated, as this is a period of dramatic developmental change in speech production ability, which my research group will measure using classic tools like parental questionnaires, but also using computational methods (e.g., natural language processing of daylong audio recordings), as well as electromyographical recordings of infants' facial muscle activation. My research group will also explore similar questions in adults, investigating how the more precise elements of breathing or chewing /sucking gestureslike the dynamic properties of lip movements, or the direction and velocity of airflow while breathingaffect adult speech perception. ******This research has important scientific implications for the study of linguistics, speech science, psychology, and neuroscience, because so little is now understood about how early vocal development informs or shapes learning in human speech perception, and vice versa. This work will also have important clinical applications, because understanding interactions between perceptual and motor systems for speech is crucial for distinguishing, diagnosing, and treating speech pathologies with either perceptual or motor origins.