Infants’ responsiveness to maternal speech and singing

Infants who were 6 months of age were presented with extended audiovisual episodes of their mother's infant-directed speech or singing. Cumulative visual fixation and initial fixation of the mother's image were longer for maternal singing than for maternal speech. Moreover, movement reduction, which may signal intense engagement, accompanied visual fixation more frequently for maternal singing than for maternal speech. The stereotypy and repetitiveness of maternal singing may promote moderate arousal levels, which sustain infant attention, in contrast to the greater variability of speech, which may result in cycles of heightened arousal, gaze aversion, and re-engagement. The regular pulse of music may also enhance emotional coordination between mother and infant.     

口语词语产生理论与语法特征通达研究的发展

近年来,研究者对口语词汇产生过程的各个层次展开了深入的探讨,各种理论与模型争论的焦点主要集中在各阶段间的关系、表征被选择的方式和词汇化的时间进程等方面,其中关于语法特征的通达一直是人们最为关注的问题之一。文章回顾了该领域内从研究初期至今较有代表性的一些理论、模型和有关语法特征通达的研究进展。希望能对有关汉语字词产生基本问题的研究有所推动。     

Sound categories or phonemes?

Vihman emphasizes the importance of early word production to the emergence of phonological knowledge. This emphasis, consistent with the generative function of phonology, provides insight into the concurrent representation of phonemes and words. At the same time, Vihman's focus on phonology leads her to possibly overstate the influence of early word acquisition on the emergence of sound categories that are probably purely phonetic in nature at the outset of learning.     

A Voice Crying out from the Wound—with or without Words: On Trauma,Speech, and Silence1

Drawing on memory and trauma studies, psychotherapeutic research, and Holocaust testimonies (in particular those of Wiesel, Semprun, Kulka, and Appelfeld), this article explores the role of speech and silence in the process of working through severe trauma. That which seems “incommunicable” will be considered in regard to the limits of linguistic representation and the problems of communication caused by the interlocutors’ avoidance of the past. How can one ensure that recounting traumatic memories does not become an extra risk rather than a remedy?     

Teaching conversational speech to children with autism spectrum disorder using text‐message prompting

The present study was designed to teach conversational speech using text‐message prompts to children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) in home play settings with siblings and peers. A multiple baseline design across children was used. Children learned conversational speech through the text‐message prompts, and the behavior generalized across peers and settings. Maintenance of treatment gains was seen at 1‐month follow‐up probes. Social validity measures indicated that parents of typically developing children viewed the participants' conversational speech as much improved after the intervention. Results are discussed in terms of the efficacy of text‐message prompts as a promising way to improve conversational speech for children with ASD.     

Oral Motor Abilities Are Task Dependent: A Factor Analytic Approach to Performance Rate

Measures of performance rates in speech-like or volitional nonspeech oral motor tasks are frequently used to draw inferences about articulation rate abnormalities in patients with neurologic movement disorders. The study objective was to investigate the structural relationship between rate measures of speech and of oral motor behaviors different from speech. A total of 130 patients with neurologic movement disorders and 130 healthy subjects participated in the study. Rate data was collected for oral reading (speech), rapid syllable repetition (speech-like), and rapid single articulator movements (nonspeech). The authors used factor analysis to determine whether the different rate variables reflect the same or distinct constructs. The behavioral data were most appropriately captured by a measurement model in which the different task types loaded onto separate latent variables. The data on oral motor performance rates show that speech tasks and oral motor tasks such as rapid syllable repetition or repetitive single articulator movements measure separate traits.     

The Legitimacy of Pseudo‐Expert Discourse in the Public Sphere

This article examines the role of expertise in public debate, specifically the ways in which expertise can be mimicked and deployed as “pseudo‐expert discourse” to generate legitimacy for views that have otherwise been discredited. The article argues that pseudo‐expert discourse having a clear public health or safety impact should be regulated. There have been some attempts to legally regulate this speech through various means; however, these attempts at regulation have been met with fierce resistance, because of free‐speech concerns. The article suggests that these appeals to free speech in the context of pseudo‐expert discourse are both misguided and misplaced. Moreover, because speakers with the relevant expertise or perceived expertise are able to secure uptake of their views, they have a moral responsibility to not deceive or mislead audiences, and may also have various legal responsibilities.     

汉语口语产生中音节和音段的促进和抑制效应

采用图画-词汇干扰实验范式, 通过比较即时命名、延迟命名以及延迟命名与发音抑制任务的结合, 考察了汉语口语产生中音节和音段在单词形式编码的不同阶段所产生的效应。与无关条件相比, 在包含音韵编码、语音编码和发音阶段的即时命名任务中, 音节相关和音段相关条件显著地缩短了图画命名时间, 表现出音节和音段促进效应; 在包含发音阶段的延迟命名任务中, 音节相关和音段相关条件显著地延长了图画命名的时间, 表现出音节和音段抑制效应; 在包含语音编码和发音阶段的延迟命名和发音抑制结合的任务中, 音段相关条件显著地延长了图画命名时间, 表现出音段抑制效应。结果表明, 音节和音段的促进效应发生在汉语口语词汇产生中的音韵编码阶段, 音节和音段的抑制效应可能发生在语音编码或者发音阶段。效果量(Cohen d)的分析表明音节的促进效应强, 而音段的促进效应弱, 音节是音韵编码过程的合适单元, 为合适单元假设提供了支持证据。与音节相比, 音段在语音编码和发音阶段的效应量较大, 表明音段在运动执行过程中可能起了相对重要的作用, 支持了口语产生中词汇表征准备阶段与运动阶段分离的观点。     

口语产生中的认知年老化及其神经机制

综述了口语产生的认知年老化现象及其认知神经机制, 总结了年龄因素对口语产生各阶段的影响及认知机制, 主要从从舌尖效应、同音词的图片命名及其启动效应等方面进行了阐述。在此基础上阐述了关于口语产生认知年老化的理论：激活不充分假说、传递不足假说和抑制不足假说, 从不同角度对认知年老化进行了分析。总结了采用fMRI和ERP技术所进行的口语产生认知年老化过程的认知神经科学研究, 概括了其认知神经机制及其发生的时间进程, 重点阐述了舌尖效应发生的神经机制。最后, 从“认知年老化”和“口语产生”这两个研究领域, 对口语产生认知年老化的研究提出了展望。