Doctoral Dissertation Research: Examining the linguistic cues that guide prediction in the processing of Mandarin relative clauses: An ERP study

博士论文研究：检查普通话关系从句处理中指导预测的语言线索：一项 ERP 研究

• 批准号: 1844790
• 负责人: Robert Fiorentino
• 金额: $ 1.71万
• 依托单位: University of Kansas Center for Research Inc
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2019
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2019-03-15 至 2022-02-28
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=1844790&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: Doctoral; Dissertation; Research; Examining; linguistic

Comprehending language is an incremental process in which the listener attempts to integrate each incoming word into the structure and meaning of the sentence as it unfolds. Increasingly, this process is also argued to involve the prediction of upcoming parts of the sentence. However, open questions remain regarding what type of linguistic information is used in order to generate predictions, and to what extent individuals differ in their ability to engage in prediction. This dissertation research project uses electroencephalography (EEG), a brain-imaging technique with millisecond-level timing resolution, to examine whether the brain utilizes predictive cues to anticipate a complex syntactic structure in Mandarin. This study also examines to what extent the ability to predict complex structures depends on verbal and non-verbal cognitive abilities, providing new insights regarding the neurological basis of language and the cognitive abilities that modulate success in language comprehension.This project examines what type of linguistic information is used to predict upcoming structure during processing, focusing on the prediction of relative clauses in Mandarin (e.g., the string "Mary wrote" in "the book Mary wrote"). In Mandarin, it is only at the end of the phrase that there is any marker indicating that the words form a relative clause; therefore, predicting relative clauses in advance may be critical for processing these sentences without disruption. This project examines whether tense expressions that appear early in a sentence may provide a predictive cue indicating an upcoming relative clause. Brain activity will be recorded via EEG while participants read sentences in Mandarin, in order to track the dynamics of predictive processing throughout the sentence. Participants will also complete a battery of tests in order to examine whether engaging in structure prediction is modulated by individual differences in linguistic and cognitive abilities, shedding light on the individual properties which may affect language comprehension.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.

理解语言是一个渐进的过程，在这个过程中，听者试图将每个传入的单词融入句子的结构和含义中。越来越多的人认为，这个过程涉及对句子即将到来的部分的预测。然而，关于使用什么类型的语言信息来生成预测，以及个体参与预测的能力有多大差异，仍然存在悬而未决的问题。本论文研究项目使用脑电图（EEG）（一种具有毫秒级定时分辨率的大脑成像技术）来检查大脑是否利用预测线索来预测普通话的复杂句法结构。这项研究还探讨了预测复杂结构的能力在多大程度上取决于语言和非语言认知能力，提供了关于语言的神经学基础和调节语言理解成功的认知能力的新见解。该项目研究了哪种类型的语言信息用于预测处理过程中即将出现的结构，重点是预测普通话关系从句（例如，“the book Mary write”中的字符串“Mary write”）。在普通话中，只有在短语的末尾才有任何标记表明该单词构成关系从句；因此，提前预测关系从句对于不间断地处理这些句子可能至关重要。该项目检查句子早期出现的时态表达是否可以提供指示即将出现的关系从句的预测线索。当参与者用普通话阅读句子时，将通过脑电图记录大脑活动，以便跟踪整个句子中预测处理的动态。参与者还将完成一系列测试，以检查结构预测是否受到语言和认知能力的个体差异的调节，从而揭示可能影响语言理解的个体属性。该奖项反映了 NSF 的法定使命，并被视为值得通过使用基金会的智力优点和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估来支持。