The real-time dynamics of language processing across the lifespan

整个生命周期中语言处理的实时动态

• 批准号: 10741958
• 负责人: Sarah Colby
• 金额: $ 42.76万
• 依托单位: UNIVERSITY OF IOWA
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 财政年份: 2023
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2023-09-01 至 2025-08-31
• 项目状态: 未结题
• 来源: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/10741958
• 关键词: Address; Adult; Age; Aging; Attenuated; Auditory; Characteristics; Clinical assessments; Cognition; Cognitive; Cognitive aging; Cognitive deficits; Communication; Complex; Coping Skills; Crystallization; Digit structure; Elderly; Environment; Eye Movements; Fatigue; Future; Goals; Grain; Hearing; Impaired cognition; Individual; Investigation; Knowledge; Language; Lead; Link; Liquid substance; Longevity; Managed Competition; Mediating; Mediation; Mediator; Memory; Modeling; Names; Neurologic Deficit; Noise; Outcome; Outcome Assessment; Participant; Peripheral; Personal Satisfaction; Play; Presbycusis; Process; Quality of life; Reporting; Robin bird; Role; Sampling; Science; Semantics; Short-Term Memory; Social Interaction; Social Network; Social Well-Being; Social isolation; Speech; System; Techniques; Testing; Time; Training; Visual; Vocabulary; Work; age effect; age related; cognitive capacity; cognitive control; cognitive function; cognitive process; cognitive skill; cognitive testing; design; environmental enrichment for laboratory animals; experience; hearing impairment; language comprehension; language processing; lexical; normal hearing; novel; phonology; preservation; processing speed; psychosocial; psychosocial wellbeing; skills; social engagement; social situation; sound; standardize measure; theories; visual tracking

Project Summary Aging is accompanied by both auditory and cognitive declines that impact psychosocial well-being and quality of life. Communication difficulties increase fatigue and can lead individuals to withdraw from social situations. This in turn can exacerbate declines by reducing social engagement. Prior work has focused on domain general aspects of cognition such as working memory and cognitive control. However, language processing— an understudied capacity in aging—may serve as a critical mediator between audition, cognitive factors and outcomes. This project focuses on spoken word recognition, a complex cognitive process that requires listeners to encode auditory information, manage competitors, and activate meaning. This is a crucial bridge between auditory function, multiple levels of language processing, and domain-general cognition. We assess this using eye-tracking in the Visual World Paradigm, which can characterize the precise competition process that undergirds spoken word recognition by tracking participants’ eye movements to pictured lexical candidates while speech unfolds in real time. Our prior work has used this technique with individuals from 11 to 79 and found increasing efficiency of word recognition through about age 30, with declines beginning around 45. However, it is unknow how these declines are related to other auditory and cognitive factors, and if there are changes that are uniquely due to word recognition. Thus, first aim investigates the factors that give rise to age- related change in word recognition. We assess a large, continuous age sample across the adult lifespan (ages 30-90, N=240). We investigate two primary predictors: 1) age-related changes in the auditory periphery—both the detectability of quiet sounds and the ability to encode fine grained temporal and spectral differences; and 2) multiple domains of cognitive function (language, working memory, and cognitive control). We relate this to online spoken word recognition assessed with the Visual World Paradigm to determine whether word recognition is a unique locus of aging and whether these other capacities contribute. With the same large sample, the second aim examines the relationship between differences in online spoken word recognition and psychosocial outcomes. We assess outcomes using both standardized measures of well-being, and by using a novel social network approach that models the complexity, diversity, and robustness of an individual’s social network. We test a model where language processing mediates the relationship between auditory and cognitive factors and psychosocial well-being. Addressing these aims is important for multiple aspects of the science of aging. First, many older adults report difficulty with speech understanding, even with normal hearing; these aims could help understand this problem. Second, spoken word recognition represents an adaptable skill that is amenable to training, if specific profiles are linked to better outcomes. Third, most cognitive assessments require language skills, but the decline in language is not known. Finally, the early decline of language skills may serve as a leading indicator of more serious decline in the future.

项目摘要 衰老是通过听觉和认知能力下降来影响社会心理健康和质量的 生活。沟通难度会增加疲劳，并可能导致个人退出社交情况。 反过来，这可能会通过减少社会参与而加剧。先前的工作重点是领域 认知的一般方面，例如工作记忆和认知控制。但是，语言处理 - 衰老的理解能力 - 可能是试听，认知因素和 结果。该项目着重于口语识别，这是一个复杂的认知过程，需要 听众编码听觉信息，管理竞争对手并激活含义。这是一座至关重要的桥梁 在听觉功能，多个语言处理和领域的认知之间。我们评估 这在视觉世界范式中使用了眼睛追踪，这可以表征精度竞争过程 通过跟踪参与者的眼睛动作到图中的词汇候选者，这是识别的。 演讲实时展开。我们先前的工作已与11至79的个人一起使用了这项技术， 发现单词识别的效率提高到30岁左右，而下降量则在45岁左右开始。 但是，尚不清楚这些下降与其他听觉和认知因素以及是否存在 由于单词识别而唯一的变化。第一个目标调查了引起年龄的因素 - 单词识别的相关变化。我们评估了整个成人寿命的大型连续年龄样本（年龄） 30-90，n = 240）。我们研究了两个主要预测因素：1）听觉外围的年龄相关变化 - 安静的声音的可检测性以及编码细粒度临时和光谱差异的能力；和2） 认知功能的多个领域（语言，工作记忆和认知控制）。我们将其与 通过视觉世界范式评估在线口语识别，以确定是否词 识别是衰老的独特源，以及这些其他能力是否有助于。同样大 样本，第二个目标检查在线口语单词识别与 社会心理结果。我们使用两种标准化的幸福感测量以及使用 新颖的社交网络方法，模拟个人社会的复杂性，多样性和鲁棒性 网络。我们测试了一种模型，语言处理介导听觉和之间的关系 认知因素和社会心理健康。解决这些目标对于多个方面很重要 衰老科学。首先，许多老年人都在言语理解方面很难，即使正常 听力;这些目标可以帮助理解这个问题。第二，口语识别代表 如果特定的概况与更好的结果相关联，则可以适应培训的能力。第三，大多数 认知评估需要语言技能，但语言的下降尚不清楚。最后，早 语言技能的下降可能是未来更严重下降的主要指标。