联结竞争对听写困难儿童形音联结编码的影响

听写困难是一种发生率较高的儿童学习障碍现象。听写困难的认知机制,主要包括语音加工缺陷、字形表征缺陷以及形音联结编码缺陷。本研究通过两个实验,考察了整字语音竞争和部件语音竞争,对听写困难儿童形音联结编码的影响。结果发现,在不同条件下,听写困难儿童的形音联结水平都落后于正常儿童;整字语音竞争显著干扰了正常儿童的形音联结编码,但对听写困难儿童的影响并不明显;与之相反的是,部件语音竞争对听写困难儿童的干扰更为明显。研究结果支持听写困难儿童的形音联结编码缺陷理论。在此基础上,听写困难儿童的形音联结较少受到整字语音的竞争干扰,但更容易受到部件语音的竞争干扰,这可能是因为,他(她)们的整体字形加工或表征存在缺陷,导致原生字字形和语音信息难以被激活,以及合体字的部件信息得到更多的加工所致。     

语言经验对大脑激活的影响：来自第二语言初学者的证据

研究采用功能磁共振成像技术考察语言经验在塑造大脑激活模式中的作用。12名只有很少英语学习经验因而熟练程度很低的小学儿童参与了实验。结果发现,在视觉呈现的押韵判断任务中,英文任务和中文任务共同激活了左侧额下回负责语音加工的脑区。更重要的是,虽然英文任务更难,也更多地激活了双侧的顶叶区域,但是它在额叶诱发的激活强度显著低于中文。这个结果进一步说明第二语言的语音皮层表征是随着学习经验的增加而逐渐发展起来的。     

汉-英儿童双语者母语和二语加工的相互作用:来自神经机制方面的证据

双语者语言加工的神经机制一直是语言认知神经科学研究关注的热点问题之一。前人研究多关注二语加工过程,较少研究母语加工神经网络与二语加工神经网络之间的相互作用;并且前人研究多以成人为被试,研究结果可能会受到发展成熟因素的影响。本研究中,28名汉英儿童双语者进行了两种语言条件下的语音判断任务和字形判断任务,在进行任务的同时进行了磁共振扫描。通过全脑分析、感兴趣区分析和相关分析,结果显示:1)汉语语音、字形加工和英语语音、字形加工激活了类似的脑区网络,但也存在差异。汉语特异脑区(根据Tan等人对汉英跨语言比较的元分析进行定义)右侧枕下回、梭状回以及左侧扣带回在英语语音、字形任务中都显著激活,英语语音任务还额外激活了汉语特异的左脑额中回和中央前回;英语特异脑区(根据Tan等人对汉英进行跨语言比较的元分析进行定义)左脑额内侧、额下回以及梭状回在汉语语音、字形加工中显著激活。2)儿童的英语熟练度越低,左脑扣带回(汉语特异脑区)在汉语语音和汉语字形任务中的激活越强;汉语熟练度越高,左脑额下回(英语特异脑区)在英语字形任务中的激活越强,左脑颞上回(英语特异脑区)在英语语音任务中的激活越弱。两个任务的结果一致说明:汉英双语者母语加工的神经网络与二语加工的神经网络之间存在相互作用,并且受到双语熟练度的调制。     

新生儿语音感知的神经基础:元分析

语言习得能力是人类在进化中获得的重要能力之一。语言认知的核心功能是语音加工, 因此, 语音加工的脑机制是认知心理学研究的重要课题。我们采用元分析方法, 对使用近红外技术考察新生儿语音感知的结构检测、偏差检测和母语感知的研究进行系统的定量分析, 探究新生儿的典型语音感知脑机制以及这三类语音加工相关脑区的异同。结果显示, 左侧额下回是新生儿检测语音结构的关键脑区; 双侧颞叶在新生儿语音偏差刺激检测中发挥关键作用; 新生儿的母语语音加工存在左侧化优势。     

动词论元结构复杂性加工的认知神经机制

动词论元结构复杂性表现在论元数量、论元范畴选择模式、题元角色指派模式和映射方式四个方面。大部分实证研究表明, 更多的论元数量、选择性论元范畴、选择性题元角色指派以及非典型映射, 使动词论元结构加工的认知神经机制更复杂。多论元加工功能脑区主要涉及左侧额下回和外侧裂周后部; 选择性论元范畴加工功能脑区主要涉及左侧额下回、额叶中后部、颞上回和颞叶中后部; 选择性题元角色指派加工功能脑区主要涉及外侧裂周后部、左侧额叶中后部和额下回; 非典型映射加工功能脑区主要涉及左侧额下回、颞上回、颞中回和颞叶后部。左侧额下回可能涉及初始句法加工、动词次范畴确定、句法移位和非宾格动词语义加工, 左侧额叶中后部可能涉及初始句法加工和动词次范畴确定, 左侧颞上回和颞叶中后部可能涉及表层句法加工和表层论元句法-语义整合, 外侧裂周后部可能涉及论元语义表征。动词论元结构加工过程和动词词汇特征表明, 复杂性某些方面存在交互作用。动词论元结构复杂性与加工难易的对应关系、复杂性加工难度层级和交互作用的认知神经机制以及汉语动词论元结构复杂性加工认知神经机制等议题, 有待进一步探讨。     

发展性阅读障碍语音缺陷的脑科学研究及对阅读教学的启示

阅读障碍语音缺陷是阅读障碍的关键原因之一。脑科学研究发现,拼音文字系统中阅读障碍者在语音加工的神经机制上存在缺陷,相关脑区包括颞—顶—枕联合区和额下回;而汉语阅读障碍者语音加工时,激活的脑区和拼音文字系统阅读障碍者激活的脑区不同,涉及左额中回和右脑一些皮层。基于此,提出了相应的阅读教学建议。     

外显和内隐情绪韵律加工的脑机制：近红外成像研究

准确识别言语中的情绪韵律信息对社会交往非常重要。本研究采用功能近红外成像技术, 探索外显和内隐情绪加工条件下愤怒、恐惧、快乐三种情绪韵律加工过程中的大脑皮层神经活动。结果表明, 对愤怒、恐惧、快乐韵律进行特异性加工的脑区分别为左侧额极/眶额叶、右侧缘上回、左侧额下回, 其中右侧缘上回脑区同时受到情绪和任务的调控。此外, 右侧颞中回、颞下回和颞极在情绪外显任务中的激活明显强于内隐任务。本研究的结果部分支持了情绪韵律的层次模型, 也对该模型的第三层次, 即“额区对语音情绪信息的精细加工需要外显性情绪加工任务参与”提出了质疑。     

语音在汉字语义通达中作用的研究述评

语音在汉字语义通达中的作用是二十多年来心理语言学研究的热点之一。直通假设和形音交互假设是学者们主张的理论观点,它们在语音和语义的相互关系上存在分歧,并分别有各自的实验证据。从比较语音语义激活时间进程、同音字效应、神经心理学与脑成像、语音作用的发展转换这四个方面对过去的研究进行回顾,指出了实验范式和实验材料中存在的问题,并提出结合汉字特点进行研究的思路。     

音乐和语言神经基础的重合与分离——基于脑成像研究元分析的比较

本研究根据音乐和语言的层级结构,从各个加工阶段出发,探讨音乐和语言的关系。具体而言,我们对已有的音乐与语言的元分析结果进行对比,并在此基础上探讨了音乐和语言在神经基础上的异同。结果表明,语音分析与音乐加工的重合发生在听觉—运动环路,与音程分析的重合节点在左侧中央前回,与结构分析的在左侧额盖区;语义分析与音乐加工的重合发生在核心环路,重合节点分别是左侧颞上回和左侧额下回(音程分析),以及右侧额下回(结构分析);句子分析和音乐知觉的重合发生在认知—情绪环路中的右侧脑岛。此结果暗示了音乐旋律分析与词义加工的关系可能是音乐语言共享神经基础的核心部分。同时,分别计算音乐两层级与语言簇的重合率发现,音程分析和语言加工重合更多,在大脑左侧有50%重合,而结构分析与语言加工重合较少,在大脑双侧分别只有7%和14%重合,暗示了在较为低层级的加工阶段,音乐和语言更可能存在共享的神经基础,而在更为高层级的加工阶段,二者更多地表现出各自独特的特点。     

计算的脑科学研究及其对数学教育的启示

脑科学研究发现,简单心算主要涉及算术事实的提取,依赖于左半球的语言中枢,而复杂心算激活了左侧顶—额叶网络和双侧颞下回,与视觉空间表征和视觉表象加工有关;精算主要激活左额叶下部区域,而估算激活了两半球更大的区域。在计算过程中所激活的脑区受年龄发展与个体差异以及训练的影响。研究对有效地促进儿童计算能力的发展提供了重要启示。     

Reversing spoken items--mind twisting not tongue twisting

Using 12 participants we conducted an fMRI study involving two tasks, word reversal and rhyme judgment, based on pairs of natural speech stimuli, to study the neural correlates of manipulating auditory imagery under taxing conditions. Both tasks engaged the left anterior superior temporal gyrus, reflecting previously established perceptual mechanisms. Engagement of the left inferior frontal gyrus in both tasks relative to baseline could only be revealed by applying small volume corrections to the region of interest, suggesting that phonological segmentation played only a minor role and providing further support for factorial dissociation of rhyming and segmentation in phonological awareness. Most importantly, subtraction of rhyme judgment from word reversal revealed activation of the parietal lobes bilaterally and the right inferior frontal cortex, suggesting that the dynamic manipulation of auditory imagery involved in mental reversal of words seems to engage mechanisms similar to those involved in visuospatial working memory and mental rotation. This suggests that reversing spoken items is a matter of mind twisting rather than tongue twisting and provides support for a link between language processing and manipulation of mental imagery.     

Effective brain connectivity in children with reading difficulties during phonological processing

Using Dynamic Causal Modeling (DCM) and functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI), we examined effective connectivity between three left hemisphere brain regions (inferior frontal gyrus, inferior parietal lobule, fusiform gyrus) and bilateral medial frontal gyrus in 12 children with reading difficulties (M age=12.4, range: 8.11-14.10) and 12 control children (M age=12.3, range: 8.9-14.11) during rhyming judgments to visually presented words. More difficult conflicting trials either had similar orthography but different phonology (e.g. pint-mint) or similar phonology but different orthography (e.g. jazz-has). Easier non-conflicting trials had similar orthography and phonology (e.g. dime-lime) or different orthography and phonology (e.g. staff-gain). The modulatory effect from left fusiform gyrus to left inferior parietal lobule was stronger in controls than in children with reading difficulties only for conflicting trials. Modulatory effects from left fusiform gyrus and left inferior parietal lobule to left inferior frontal gyrus were stronger for conflicting trials than for non-conflicting trials only in control children but not in children with reading difficulties. Modulatory effects from left inferior frontal gyrus to inferior parietal lobule, from medial frontal gyrus to left inferior parietal lobule, and from left inferior parietal lobule to medial frontal gyrus were positively correlated with reading skill only in control children. These findings suggest that children with reading difficulties have deficits in integrating orthography and phonology utilizing left inferior parietal lobule, and in engaging phonological rehearsal/segmentation utilizing left inferior frontal gyrus possibly through the indirect pathway connecting posterior to anterior language processing regions, especially when the orthographic and phonological information is conflicting.     

Developmental changes in the linguistic brain after puberty

The development of reading skills is a complex and very long-lasting process. In an influential study Booth et al. demonstrated age-related changes in the activation of a network of left hemisphere regions, including the inferior frontal area, the superior temporal gyrus, and the angular gyrus. Interestingly, they found that the angular gyrus, which is involved in the mapping between phonological and orthographic representation, is automatically activated in adults during visual orthographic tasks not requiring this operation.     

Neural correlates of mapping from phonology to orthography in children performing an auditory spelling task

Age-related differences (9- to 15-year-olds) in the neural correlates of mapping from phonology to orthography were examined with functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI). Participants were asked to determine if two spoken words had the same spelling for the rime (corresponding letters after the first consonant or consonant cluster). Some of the word pairs had conflicting orthography and phonology (e.g. jazz-has, pint-mint) whereas other pairs had non-conflicting information (e.g. press-list, gate-hate) (see Table 1). There were age-related increases in activation for lexical processing (across conflicting and non-conflicting conditions) in left inferior parietal lobule, suggesting that older children have a more elaborated system for mapping between phonology and orthography that includes connections at different grain sizes (e.g. phonemes, onset-rimes, syllables). In addition, we found that the conflicting conditions had lower accuracy, slower reaction time and greater activation in left inferior frontal gyrus as compared to non-conflicting conditions. Higher accuracy was also correlated with greater activation in left inferior frontal gyrus for the most difficult conflicting condition (e.g. jazz-has). The finding of both a conflict effect and a correlation with accuracy in left inferior frontal gyrus suggests that this region may be involved in resolving the conflict between orthographic and phonological representations.     

The role of inferior frontal cortex in phonological processing

Recent neuroimaging studies of language processing are examining the neural substrate of phonology because of its critical role in mapping sound information onto higher levels of language processing (e.g., words) as well as providing codes in which verbal information can be temporarily stored in working memory. However, the precise role of the inferior frontal cortex in spoken and written phonological tasks has remained elusive. Although lesion studies have indicated the presence of selective deficits in phonological processing, the location of lesions underlying these impairments has not revealed a consistent pattern. Despite efforts to refine methods and tasks, functional neuroimaging studies have also revealed variability in activation patterns. Reanalysis of evidence from these neuroimaging studies suggests that there are functional subregions within the inferior frontal gyrus that correspond to specific components of phonological processing (e.g., orthographic to phonological conversion in reading, and segmentation in speech).     

文盲与非文盲汉字字形和语音加工的脑机制

利用功能性磁共振成像(fMRI)技术探讨文盲和非文盲汉字字形和语音加工脑机制的差异。实验1使用汉字字形和图形比较了中国人文盲和非文盲字形加工过程脑机制的左侧差异。实验2使用汉字语音和纯音比较了文盲和非文盲语音加工过程脑机制的双侧差异。结果表明文盲与非文盲汉字字形和语音加工脑机制不同,且非文盲的脑活动强。     

Is there an alternative cerebral network associated with enhanced phonological processing in deaf speech-users? An exceptional case

Most people born deaf and exposed to oral language show scant evidence of sensitivity to the phonology of speech when processing written language. In this respect they differ from hearing people. However, occasionally, a prelingually deaf person can achieve good processing of written language in terms of phonological sensitivity and awareness, and in this respect appears exceptional. We report the pattern of event-related fMRI activation in such a deaf reader while performing a rhyme-judgment on written words with similar spelling endings that do not provide rhyme clues. The left inferior frontal gyrus pars opercularis and the left inferior parietal lobe showed greater activation for this task than for a letter-string identity matching task. This participant was special in this regard, showing significantly greater activation in these regions than a group of hearing participants with a similar level of phonological and reading skill. In addition, SR showed activation in the left mid-fusiform gyrus; a region which did not show task-specific activation in the other respondents. The pattern of activation in this exceptional deaf reader was also unique compared with three deaf readers who showed limited phonological processing. We discuss the possibility that this pattern of activation may be critical in relation to phonological decoding of the written word in good deaf readers whose phonological reading skills are indistinguishable from those of hearing readers.     

Priming vs. rhyming: orthographic and phonological representations in the left and right hemispheres

The right cerebral hemisphere has long been argued to lack phonological processing capacity. Recently, however, a sex difference in the cortical representation of phonology has been proposed, suggesting discrete left hemisphere lateralization in males and more distributed, bilateral representation of function in females. To evaluate this hypothesis and shed light on sex differences in the phonological processing capabilities of the left and right hemispheres, we conducted two experiments. Experiment 1 assessed phonological activation implicitly (masked homophone priming), testing 52 (M=25, F=27; mean age 19.23years, SD 1.64years) strongly right-handed participants. Experiment 2 subsequently assessed the explicit recruitment of phonology (rhyme judgement), testing 50 (M=25, F=25; mean age 19.67years, SD 2.05years) strongly right-handed participants. In both experiments the orthographic overlap between stimulus pairs was strictly controlled using DICE [Brew, C., & McKelvie, D. (1996). Word-pair extraction for lexicography. In K. Oflazer & H. Somers (Eds.), Proceedings of the second international conference on new methods in language processing (pp. 45-55). Ankara: VCH], such that pairs shared (a) high orthographic and phonological similarity (e.g., not-KNOT); (b) high orthographic and low phonological similarity (e.g., pint-HINT); (c) low orthographic and high phonological similarity (e.g., use-EWES); or (d) low orthographic and low phonological similarity (e.g., kind-DONE). As anticipated, high orthographic similarity facilitated both left and right hemisphere performance, whereas the left hemisphere showed greater facility when phonological similarity was high. This difference in hemispheric processing of phonological representations was especially pronounced in males, whereas female performance was far less sensitive to visual field of presentation across both implicit and explicit phonological tasks. As such, the findings offer behavioural evidence indicating that though both hemispheres are capable of orthographic analysis, phonological processing is discretely lateralised to the left hemisphere in males, but available in both the left and right hemisphere in females.     

Dissociation and association of the embodied representation of tool-use verbs and hand verbs: An fMRI study

Embodied semantic theories suppose that representation of word meaning and actual sensory-motor processing are implemented in overlapping systems. According to this view, association and dissociation of different word meaning should correspond to dissociation and association of the described sensory-motor processing. Previous studies demonstrate that although tool-use actions and hand actions have overlapping neural substrates, tool-use actions show greater activations in frontal–parietal–temporal regions that are responsible for motor control and tool knowledge processing. In the present study, we examined the association and the dissociation of the semantic representation of tool-use verbs and hand action verbs. Chinese verbs describing tool-use or hand actions without tools were included, and a passive reading task was employed. All verb conditions showed common activations in areas of left middle frontal gyrus, left inferior frontal gyrus (BA 44/45) and left inferior parietal lobule relative to rest, and all conditions showed significant effects in premotor areas within the mask of hand motion effects. Contrasts between tool-use verbs and hand verbs demonstrated that tool verbs elicited stronger activity in left superior parietal lobule, left middle frontal gyrus and left posterior middle temporal gyrus. Additionally, psychophysiological interaction analyses demonstrated that tool verbs indicated greater connectivity among these regions. These results suggest that the brain regions involved in tool-use action processing also play more important roles in tool-use verb processing and that similar systems may be responsible for word meaning representation and actual sensory-motor processing.