不同阅读能力聋人语篇理解中连接推理的眼动比较

采用记录被试阅读完成后回答问题的正确率、反应时与眼动指标,试图探讨不同阅读能力聋人语篇理解中连接推理的加工特点与效率。结果表明:在语篇局部连贯中断情况下,高低阅读能力聋人在语篇理解过程中的连接推理加工是主动的即时性加工,而非语篇阅读完成后被动的延时性加工;但高阅读能力聋人能有效激活背景知识,所发生的连接推理加工是一个自动化的加工;低阅读能力聋人主动尝试即时激活背景知识、构建句子间的连接推理,但连接推理的加工还未达到自动化程度,推理加工的效率较低。     

Impaired Speech Perception in Poor Readers: Evidence from Hearing and Speech Reading

The performance of 14 poor readers on an audiovisual speech perception task was compared with 14 normal subjects matched on chronological age (CA) and 14 subjects matched on reading age (RA). The task consisted of identifying synthetic speech varying in place of articulation on an acoustic 9-point continuum between /ba/ and /da/ (Massaro & Cohen, 1983). The acoustic speech events were factorially combined with the visual articulation of /ba/, /da/, or none. In addition, the visual-only articulation of /ba/ or /da/ was presented. The results showed that (1) poor readers were less categorical than CA and RA in the identification of the auditory speech events and (2) that they were worse in speech reading. This convergence between the deficits clearly suggests that the auditory speech processing difficulty of poor readers is speech specific and relates to the processing of phonological information.     

不同语言理解能力中学生的语篇连贯推理

该研究使用移动视窗技术考察了初二和高一年级中的高低语言理解能力被试语篇阅读过程中将当前信息与背景信息之间建立联系,建构语篇连贯表征的连贯推理加工特点。结果表明：(1)不同语言理解能力个体对语篇中明确提及信息的记忆无差异,但在阅读过程中进行连贯推理上存在差异。(2)个体进行连贯推理的速度和准确度会随年龄增加有所提高。     

不同语言理解能力中学生的主题推理特点

该研究使用移动视窗技术考察了初二和高一年级中的高低语言理解能力学生的主题推理加工特点。结果发现:(1)所有学生在无时间限制情况下,都能顺利完成语篇主题相似度判断,较低语言理解能力学生在阅读过程中不能进行有效主题推理;(2)较低语言理解能力被试在主题推理加工上的困难可能是由认知加工系统实时加工能力较差造成。     

中文阅读中快速读者与慢速读者的词频效应

在熟练的中文阅读中,个体阅读效率越高,词汇加工效率是否越高,目前还缺少直接证据。本研究通过记录快速读者与慢速读者在阅读含有高频或低频目标词句子时的眼动轨迹来考察该问题。结果发现,在第一遍注视时间、回视路径时间和总注视时间上,快速读者对高频词与低频词的注视时间无显著差异,但都短于慢速读者;而慢速读者对低频词的注视时间显著长于高频词。即快速读者的早期词汇识别和后期词汇整合效率都较高,不受词频影响;而慢速读者的整个词汇加工效率较低,受词频影响较大。这些结果表明两组读者的词汇加工模式具有本质差异,符合个体差异性观点与词汇质量假说。     

噪音背景对二语语音感知的影响

日常言语交流常常会遇到各种噪音的干扰。研究表明, 噪音所产生的能量掩蔽和信息掩蔽会给语音感知带来较大影响。在感知地道的二语语音时, 二语者在各种噪音条件下所受干扰通常比母语者更大, 其表现随噪音类型、水平和目标音位特征的不同而变化; 同时, 二语者的感知也存在较大个体差异, 这是多种因素影响的结果。在噪音下感知带有各种外国腔的二语口音时, 母语者的表现差于其对地道母语语音的感知; 二语经历贫乏的二语者则对与自己口音类似的外国腔感知较好, 但二语经历较长的二语者在感知中却表现出较大灵活性。     

Speech Perception: Cognitive Foundations and Cortical Implementation

ABSTRACT— Speech perception includes, minimally, the set of computations that transform continuously varying acoustic signals into linguistic representations that can be used for subsequent processing. The auditory and motor subroutines of this complex perceptual process are executed in a network of brain areas organized in ventral and dorsal parallel pathways, performing sound-to-meaning and sound-to-motor mappings, respectively. Research on speech using neurobiological techniques argues against narrow motor or auditory theories. To account for the range of cognitive and neural attributes, integrative computational models seem promising.     

婴儿语音感知发展及其机制

语音感知的发展状况对个体的语言发展有着深远影响。生命的第一年中, 在语言经验的作用下, 婴儿的语音感知从最初的普遍性感知逐渐发展为对母语的特异性感知。研究者们提出统计学习机制对这一过程加以解释, 即婴儿对语言环境中语音的频次分布十分敏感, 可以通过对频次分布的计算, 从语音的连续体中区分出在母语中起区别意义作用的各个语音范畴。同时, 功能性重组机制和一些社会性线索也会对婴儿语音感知的发展产生重要影响。     

Speech Perception Within an Auditory Cognitive Science Framework

ABSTRACT— The complexities of the acoustic speech signal pose many significant challenges for listeners. Although perceiving speech begins with auditory processing, investigation of speech perception has progressed mostly independently of study of the auditory system. Nevertheless, a growing body of evidence demonstrates that cross-fertilization between the two areas of research can be productive. We briefly describe research bridging the study of general auditory processing and speech perception, showing that the latter is constrained and influenced by operating characteristics of the auditory system and that our understanding of the processes involved in speech perception is enhanced by study within a more general framework. The disconnect between the two areas of research has stunted the development of a truly interdisciplinary science, but there is an opportunity for great strides in understanding with the development of an integrated field of auditory cognitive science.     

A Connectionist Model of Phonological Representation in Speech Perception

A number of recent studies have examined the effects of phonological variation on the perception of speech. These studies show that both the lexical representations of words and the mechanisms of lexical access are organized so that natural, systematic variation is tolerated by the perceptual system, while a general intolerance of random deviation is maintained. Lexical abstraction distinguishes between phonetic features that form the invariant core of a word and those that are susceptible to variation. Phonological inference relies on the context of surface changes to retrieve the underlying phonological form. In this article we present a model of these processes in speech perception, based on connectionist learning techniques. A simple recurrent network was trained on the mapping from the variant surface form of speech to the underlying form. Once trained, the network exhibited features of both abstraction and inference in its processing of normal speech, and predicted that similar behavior will be found in the perception of nonsense words. This prediction was confirmed in subsequent research (Gaskell & Marslen-Wilson, 1994).     

The Adaptive Value of Lexical Connotation in Speech Perception

Previous work (e.g. Bargh, Chaiken, Govender, & Pratto, 1992; Fazio, Sanbonmatsu, Powell, & Kardes, 1986) has shown that objects are evaluated on a goodness/badness dimension automatically and preconsciously. Vakoch and Wurm (1997; Wurm & Vakoch, 1996) have found similar results using different stimuli and tasks. They found that auditory lexical decision times depend on dimensions of connotation (Evaluation, Potency, and Activity). Reaction times (RTs) from these studies were interpreted in terms of the evolutionary adaptiveness of different types of perceptual processing. The current study introduces a new way to define words, using two dimensions (Danger and Usefulness) rather than three, that allows a direct test of the adaptiveness model. RTs for nouns chosen for their adaptive significance were related to Usefulness and Danger, and to the interaction between Usefulness and Danger. A database of dimension weights is included.     

Severity of Emotional and Behavioral Problems Among Poor and Typical Readers

The purpose of this study was to examine the severity of behavioral and emotional problems among adolescents with poor and typical single word reading ability (N = 188) recruited from public schools and followed for a median of 2.4 years. Youth and parents were repeatedly assessed to obtain information regarding the severity and course of symptoms (depression, anxiety, somatic complaints, aggression, delinquent behaviors, inattention), controlling for demographic variables and diagnosis of ADHD. After adjustment for demographic variables and ADHD, poor readers reported higher levels of depression, trait anxiety, and somatic complaints than typical readers, but there were no differences in reported self-reported delinquent or aggressive behaviors. Parent reports indicated no differences in depression, anxiety or aggression between the two groups but indicated more inattention, somatic complaints, and delinquent behaviors for the poor readers. School and health professionals should carefully assess youth with poor reading for behavioral and emotional symptoms and provide services when indicated.     

Parametrically Dissociating Speech and Nonspeech Perception in the Brain Using fMRI

Candidate brain regions constituting a neural network for preattentive phonetic perception were identified with fMRI and multivariate multiple regression of imaging data. Stimuli contrasted along speech/nonspeech, acoustic, or phonetic complexity (three levels each) and natural/synthetic dimensions. Seven distributed brain regions' activity correlated with speech and speech complexity dimensions, including five left-sided foci [posterior superior temporal gyrus (STG), angular gyrus, ventral occipitotemporal cortex, inferior/posterior supramarginal gyrus, and middle frontal gyrus (MFG)] and two right-sided foci (posterior STG and anterior insula). Only the left MFG discriminated natural and synthetic speech. The data also supported a parallel rather than serial model of auditory speech and nonspeech perception.     

Instability of Double-Deficit Subtypes Among At-Risk First Grade Readers

The double-deficit hypothesis provides a framework for identifying students at-risk for persistent reading difficulties. I examined the temporal stability of four double-deficit subtypes (no-deficit, naming-speed deficit, phonological deficit, and double-deficit) in 197 low-performing, first-grade readers. Concurrent analyses in fall and spring revealed that students with poor phonemic awareness and naming speed were the lowest readers in the sample; however, having a double-deficit in fall was not a good predictor of subsequent progress, most likely because subtypes were not stable over the first half of grade 1. Only about half the sample retained the same subtype from fall to spring.     

Gender and Speech Rate in the Perception of Competence and Social Attractiveness

Abstract

The authors' hypotheses were that (a) listeners regard speakers whose global speech rates they judge to be similar to their own as more competent and more socially attractive than speakers whose rates are different from their own and (b) gender influences those perceptions. Participants were 17 male and 28 female listeners; they judged each of 3 male and 3 female speakers in terms of 10 unipolar adjective scales. The authors used 8 of the scales to derive 2 scores describing the extent to which the listener viewed a speaker as competent and socially attractive. The 2 scores were related by trend analyses (a) to the listeners' perceptions of the speakers' speech rates as compared with their own and (b) to comparisons of the actual speech rates of the speakers and listeners. The authors examined trend components of the data by split-plot multiple regression analyses. In general, the results supported both hypotheses. The participants judged speakers with speech rates similar to their own as more competent and socially attractive than speakers with speech rates slower or faster than their own. However, the ratings of competence were significantly influenced by the gender of the listeners, and those of social attractiveness were influenced by the gender of the listeners and the speakers.     

Gender and the Perception of Diversity and Intimidation Among University Students

This study investigated gender differences inthe perceptions of university students about admissionsand curriculum policies around diversity, and theexperience of intimidation. A random sample of 340 students were interviewed by telephone. Theparticipants were 54% male, 46% female; and 18% AfricanAmerican, 5% Hispanic, 19% Asian/Pacific Islanders, and58% Caucasian. The analysis found that more women than men experienced intimidation based ongender, religion, and academic ability, and that much ofthe intimidation is attributed to other students. Womenwere more supportive than men of admissions policies that have social goals. Two sociodemographiccharacteristics (African American, female) wereassociated with support for courses that emphasizecultural diversity among undergraduates. Sexist messagesfrom the broader society communicated by studentsand others in the academic environment and internalizedbywomen — as well as the diffusion effect acrossthe domains of gender, academic ability, and religion— explain the results.     

汉语母语者视听言语知觉发展趋势研究

6~12岁儿童、13~18岁青少年和20~30岁成人被试各30名,运用McGurk效应研究范式对汉语母语者视听言语知觉的发展趋势进行探讨。所有被试需要接受纯听和视听两种条件下的测试,其任务是出声报告自己听到的刺激。结果发现：（1）三个年龄阶段汉语母语者被试在安静听力环境下的单音节加工中都受到了视觉线索的影响,表现出了McGurk效应;（2）三个年龄阶段汉语母语者被试McGurk效应的强度存在显著差异,其受视觉言语影响的程度表现出随年龄增长而增强的发展趋势;（3）13岁以后汉语被试在视听一致下对视觉线索的依赖没有显著增强,但是在视听冲突下视觉言语的影响仍然在逐渐增强。