汉语普通话声调T2-T4范畴化感知的老化效应

本研究考察了50~80岁说普通话的中老年人对普通话声调T2—T4的范畴化感知表现,探究影响声调范畴化感知老化的因素。采用经典范畴感知范式。结果显示,(1)中老年组所有年龄段(50~60岁、60~70岁、70~80岁)的范畴边界宽度都显著大于年轻组,但中老年组间差异不显著。(2)中老年人范畴边界宽度与记忆广度测试得分呈显著负相关,而与年龄的相关性不显著。(3)和年轻组相比,中老年组范畴内识别函数的斜率差异显著,而范畴间差异不显著。结果表明,中老年人声调感知范畴化程度下降,音系层面的加工能力发生衰退,记忆广度的衰退与声调范畴化感知老年化之间存在关联。此外,50到80岁间,年龄不会直接影响声调感知范畴化程度。     

汉语普通话声调感知的老年化效应：来自ERP的证据

研究考察汉语普通话老年人前注意阶段声调感知状况,探究是否存在领域特殊的老年化。运用事件相关电位技术,采用被动oddball范式诱发MMN回应,控制领域一般性因素的影响。结果显示涉及范畴变化的声调和非语音音调诱发MMN强度衰减,不涉及范畴变化的声调诱发MMN强度未衰退。研究结果表明在前注意阶段,在特定汉语普通话声调范畴知识加工能力上存在领域特殊的衰退,而不涉及母语音位知识的声调的感知存在领域特殊的一定程度的保留,这一保留与时间维度上补偿机制的调用有关。受补偿机制调节,语言加工呈现出衰退或保留等不同的老年化进程。     

学习材料组块方式对相似词长时记忆的影响

已有关于材料相似性影响短时记忆的研究提示, 不相似材料组块相比于相似材料组块可能促进记忆。为验证该假设, 该研究采用学习-测查范式, 通过4个实验考察了学习材料组块方式对相似词长时记忆的影响及机制。结果发现：1)与相似词组块相比, 不相似词组块促进了相似词记忆; 2)不相似词组块的促进效应是通过增强相似词表共同词根的记忆而实现的; 3)不相似词组块的促进效应可能依赖于语音相似性。该结果说明不相似词组块可能是促进相似词汇记忆的有效途径之一。     

不同感觉通道的节奏感知及其交互作用

节奏感知是人类独有的认知现象, 听觉在节奏加工中具有优势, 声音节奏可以更好地与肢体运动同步, 但视觉和触觉通道在节奏感知上也有着各自特点并存在广泛的交互作用。视觉通道的节奏感知较弱, 与听觉节奏同时呈现时会受到时间定位上的拉扯, 但通过加入运动信息和增强后天经验可以得到强化; 节奏刺激可以调节注意在时间上的分配使其同步化, 这种调节作用可以单通道或者跨通道地出现; 触动觉与听觉联系紧密, 人们可以通过听触通道的整合对节奏进行高级加工。     

节奏——舞蹈艺术的生命

节奏是舞蹈的生命,舞蹈从它第一天诞生就和节奏同时存在。节奏也是舞蹈和音乐结合的纽带,它们相辅相成,共同创造着直观可感、有声有色、优美生动的艺术形象。     

2~4岁普通话儿童前注意阶段的声调感知机制

以MMN、p-MMR作为汉语词汇声调感知的神经关联物,探究2~4岁汉语普通话儿童前注意阶段对声调刺激的失匹配响应,关注范畴信息和偏差大小两个因素对儿童感知水平的影响。结果显示:在范畴间大偏差条件下(T1/T3),诱发明显的MMN;在范畴内或小偏差条件下(T3a/T3、T3b/T3、T2/T3),都未诱发显著的MMR。表明:2~4岁普通话儿童正处于声调感知能力的发展过程中,音位信息和声学信息共同影响其声调感知。     

藏语母语者汉语词汇识别的眼动研究

采用眼动技术,通过两个实验考察了藏语母语者在不同语境中阅读汉语句子时,字形、语音信息在词汇识别中分别发挥的作用以及词频效应。结果发现：（1）在高限制性句子语境中,字形和语音共同作用;（2）在低限制性句子语境中,语音作用显著;（3）词频效应出现在高限制性语境的晚期,以及低限制性语境的中期和晚期。该结果表明,在藏语母语者阅读汉语的过程中,句子语境影响词汇识别过程中字形、语音的作用及作用的时间进程,藏语母语者汉语词汇识别符合双通道理论。     

汉语母语者视听双通道言语知觉的特点及发展研究

以30名小学二年级学生2、4名小学五年级学生和29名大学一年级学生为被试,运用McGurk效应研究范式对汉语母语者视听双通道言语知觉的表现特点、发展趋势等问题进行了探讨,三个年龄阶段被试均接受纯听和视听两种条件下的测查,被试的任务是出声报告自己听到的刺激。结果发现:(1)汉语为母语的二年级小学生、五年级小学生和大学生在自然听力环境下的单音节加工中都受到视觉线索的影响,表现出了McGurk效应;(2)二年级小学生、五年级小学生和大学生受视觉言语影响的程度,也就是McGurk效应的强度没有显著差异,没有表现出类似英语母语者的发展趋势。该结果支持了McGurk效应"普遍存在"的假说。     

顿悟式组块破解的时间进程：ERP研究

本研究旨在探讨顿悟式组块破解的信息加工机制及神经动态变化。被试完成汉字拆解任务,也即从一个源汉字中移动部件从而得到有效汉字。研究操纵部件之间在空间交错背景下的类别关系：同类（移动部件和剩余部件都是汉字）和异类（移动部件是笔画,剩余部件是汉字）。与此同时记录事件相关电位变化。结果显示,同类条件比异类条件引发了更大的N2波动和减小的LPC波动。早期的N2效应可能提示了组块破解过程中的识别困难,而晚期的LPC效应可能提示了组块破解过程中的知觉转换困难。     

字谜顿悟任务中限制解除和组块分解的机制及其原型启发效应

通过3个实验考察了汉字字谜任务中的限制解除和组块分解机制及其原型启发效应。实验1a表明,字谜的常规型语义比字谜型语义更容易激活,实验1b采用“学习-测试”范式,结果表明在学习阶段启动字谜语义比启动常规语义更有利于测试阶段的常规语义限制的解除。因此实验1表明常规语义和字谜语义的通达性差异是限制形成和限制解除的认知机制。实验2表明,涉及镶嵌或者笔画单元分解的紧组块比相应的松组块解答率更低,反应时更长,这表明组块分解是字谜顿悟的机制之一。实验3通过实验3a和实验3b分别揭示了在限制解除和组块分解上原型启发比非原型启发以及无启发有更大的促进作用。总之,本研究揭示,汉字字谜任务中存在限制解除和组块分解机制并且原型启发可以促进二者的发生。     

Dichotic Perception of Mandarin Tones by Chinese and American Listeners

The dichotic perception of Mandarin tones by native and nonnative listeners was examined in order to investigate the lateralization of lexical tone. Twenty American listeners with no tone language background and 20 Chinese listeners were asked to identify dichotically presented tone pairs by identifying which tone they heard in each ear. For the Chinese listeners, 57% of the total errors occurred via the left ear, indicating a significant right ear advantage. However, the American listeners revealed no significant ear preference, with 48% of the errors attributable to the left ear. These results indicated that Mandarin tones are predominantly processed in the left hemisphere by native Mandarin speakers, whereas they are bilaterally processed by American English speakers with no prior tone experience. The results also suggest that the left hemisphere superiority for native Mandarin tone processing is similar to native processing of other tone languages.     

A tutoring package to teach pronunciation of Mandarin Chinese characters

We examined the effects of a tutoring package (verbal modeling, prompts, and contingent praise/ Chinese conversations with the tutor) on the performance of a college student's Mandarin Chinese pronunciation. The effects of the tutoring package were analyzed using a multiple baseline design across two sets of 50 Chinese characters. The tutoring package produced improvement in the student's correct pronunciation of Chinese characters from 48% (pretutoring) to 90% (posttutoring). Results suggested that the tutoring package produced mastery pronunciation of targeted Mandarin Chinese vocalizations by a nonnative speaker.     

Managing the Rhythmic Complexity of Hitting a Golf Ball

ABSTRACT

The authors investigated how the force pattern exerted on a golf club is coordinated with the golfer's weight shift, which supplies power to the swing. Moderately skilled golfers (n = 10, 5–10 stroke handicap) hit short golf shots requiring different amounts of force. Across these different shots, the timing of the force pattern applied to the clubhead was approximately invariant even though the force magnitude varied. In contrast, the weight shift timing and magnitude both varied with the required force of the shot. Across repeated attempts at the same shot, temporal variations in the clubhead force pattern were either uncorrelated or only weakly correlated with temporal variations in the weight shift. Together, these data indicate that the weight shift is a relatively independent, adjustable rhythmic unit from the invariant clubhead timing pattern for moderately skilled golfers.     

汉语时间-空间隐喻加工垂直偏向性的稳固性

前人的研究发现,汉语时间-空间隐喻的加工表现出一定的垂直偏向性。本文两个实验采用空间启动的范式,考察汉英双语者二语（英语）经验对汉语时间-空间隐喻加工偏向性的影响。实验1以中国内地汉英双语大学生为被试,结果发现,在垂直空间启动条件下,被试的反应时更快,垂直性时间问题的反应时最短,正确率最高,即表现出时间-空间隐喻加工的垂直偏向性,这说明英语经验未影响汉语时间-空间隐喻加工的垂直偏向性。实验2采用英语熟练程度更高,来自我国港、澳地区的汉英双语大学生为被试,得到了和实验1类似的结果。两个实验结果表明,对于非平衡的汉英双语者而言,英语经验并未对汉语母语时间-空间隐喻加工的偏向性产生影响,汉语时间-空间隐喻加工的垂直偏向性表现出相当程度的稳固性。     

The spatial mapping of concepts in English and Mandarin

ABSTRACT

English speakers have been shown to map abstract concepts in space, which occurs on both the vertical and horizontal dimensions. For example, words such as God are associated with up and right spatial locations, and words such as Satan with down and left. If the tendency to map concepts in space is a universal property of human cognition, then it is likely that such mappings may be at least partly culturally-specific, since many concepts are themselves language-specific and therefore cultural conventions. Here we investigated whether Mandarin speakers report spatial mapping of concepts, and how these mappings compare with English speakers (i.e. are words with the same meaning associated with the same spatial locations). Across two studies, results showed that both native English and Mandarin speakers reported spatial mapping of concepts, and that the distribution of mappings was highly similar for the two groups. Theoretical implications are discussed.     

粤语-普通话双言者和普通话单言者周期性时间推理比较

通过4个实验,考察粤-普双言者与普通话单言者周期性时间推理的差异。实验1和2表明,无论时间以5为单位、不以5为单位还是以“字”为单位,双言者反应时均显著长。实验3和4表明,当时间为以5为单位时,双言者与单言者均采用数字加工方式;当材料以“字”为单位时,双言者采用空间表象加工方式。     

语音型噪音对二语者汉语元音声调感知的影响

在安静、语音型噪音、语音调制型噪音三种背景下测量了汉语母语者、汉语中、高水平的韩语母语者感知汉语元音和声调的正确率。安静背景下,三组人的语音感知类似,而在语音型噪音背景下,汉语母语者的感知正确率显著高于中水平二语者。进一步的检验表明中水平二语者在语音型噪音背景下的感知难度较大是由于其受到的语音型噪音中能量掩蔽的影响比母语被试要大,而其受到的信息掩蔽的干扰和另外两组被试相近。     

汉语元音对声调感知边界的影响

本项研究基于现代汉语普通话声调感知具有范畴性这一结论(Wang, 1976), 以普通话中6个单元音(/a//?//F//i//u//y/, 即拼音a、o、e、i、u、ü)阴平(T1)到阳平(T2)调的连续统(continuum)为实验语料, 用专业语音学软件Praat合成连续统语音样本, 对20名平均年龄为22.90岁的普通话母语者进行声调感知实验, 即让被试对所听刺激进行T1或T2的二选一鉴别测试(identification test), 从而探究单元音的内在音高(intrinsic pitch)与声调感知边界(boundary)的关系。本文借鉴Wang (1976)和Peng等(2010)对元音/i/声调连续统的合成方法, 使声调感知研究拓展到普通话中除/i/之外的其他5个单元音, 对以上两项研究起到一定的对照作用。研究发现, 元音会对T1到T2的声调范畴感知边界位置产生影响, 低元音/a/的内在音高较低, 其边界位置亦始终低于其他元音, 且具有显著性差异, 实验结果证明, 内在音高会对感知边界产生影响, 从而支持了Ohala和Eukel (1976)的“舌位拉伸”假说。     

Numerical morphology supports early number word learning: Evidence from a comparison of young Mandarin and English learners

Previous studies showed that children learning a language with an obligatory singular/plural distinction (Russian and English) learn the meaning of the number word for one earlier than children learning Japanese, a language without obligatory number morphology (Barner, Libenson, Cheung, & Takasaki, 2009; Sarnecka, Kamenskaya, Yamana, Ogura, & Yudovina, 2007). This can be explained by differences in number morphology, but it can also be explained by many other differences between the languages and the environments of the children who were compared. The present study tests the hypothesis that the morphological singular/plural distinction supports the early acquisition of the meaning of the number word for one by comparing young English learners to age and SES matched young Mandarin Chinese learners. Mandarin does not have obligatory number morphology but is more similar to English than Japanese in many crucial respects. Corpus analyses show that, compared to English learners, Mandarin learners hear number words more frequently, are more likely to hear number words followed by a noun, and are more likely to hear number words in contexts where they denote a cardinal value. Two tasks show that, despite these advantages, Mandarin learners learn the meaning of the number word for one three to six months later than do English learners. These results provide the strongest evidence to date that prior knowledge of the numerical meaning of the distinction between singular and plural supports the acquisition of the meaning of the number word for one.