Phonetic and Neurocognitive Study on Self-Expression and Cognition of Others through Speech Communication

2014 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

• Project/Area Number: 24320081
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (B)
• Allocation Type: Partial Multi-year Fund
• Section: 一般
• Research Field: Linguistics
• Research Institution: Prefectural University of Hiroshima
• Principal Investigator: IMAIZUMI Satoshi 県立広島大学, 保健福祉学部, 教授 (80122018)
• Co-Investigator(Kenkyū-buntansha): IJYUIN Mutsuo 地方独立行政法人東京都健康長寿医療センター, 研究員 (00250192) ; MITSUMOTO Atsushi 県立広島大学, 保健福祉学部, 教授 (00420761) ; SATO Yutaka 独立行政法人理化学研究所, 研究員 (80415174)
• Project Period (FY): 2012-04-01 – 2015-03-31
• Keywords: コミュニケーション障害 / 言語発達 / 伝達意図 / 音声学 / 脳科学 / fNIRS / 自閉症 / 吃

Outline of Final Research Achievements

The ability to express and understand communicative intentions of own as well as others, including its developmental processes, was investigated for children with or without communication disorders. The ability to understand speaker’s real intention from a spoken phrase, which is not necessarily consistent with linguistic meaning, develops around 6 or 7 years of age for typically-developing children, while the autistic children showed significant difficulties for such incongruent phrases. Through analyses of expressive speech behaviors observed under various situations, characteristic differences were found depending on the types of communication disorders. The results obtained by fNIRS analyses for typically-developing children suggest that left and right inferior frontal cortices and right inferior frontal gyrus are associated with the development of ability to interpret speaker’s intentions.

Free Research Field

音声コミュニケーション