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科学家鉴定出一个用于社交互动过程中自然语言生成的言语计划网络
作者:小柯机器人 发布时间:2022/1/9 13:59:04

美国纽约大学朗格医学中心Michael A. Long 研究团队取得一项新突破。他们鉴定出了一个用于社交互动过程中自然语言生成的言语计划网络。该项研究成果于2022年1月5日在线发表在《自然》杂志上。

在这里,研究人员使用颅内皮层电流描记法来精确测量参与者执行交互任务时的神经活动,并观察到一种功能和解剖学上不同的与言语计划相关的皮质动力学。研究人员将这些反应定位到额颞叶回路,该区域通常不涉及语言规划。通过一系列的运动任务,他们发现这个计划网络在准备演讲时会比非语言行为更活跃。最后,研究人员在自然对话中描绘了与言语计划相关的环路,这与他们的交互任务映射出的网络几乎相同,并且他们研究发现在无约束轮流交谈中,该环路在参与者发言之前是最活跃的。因此,研究人员鉴定出一个言语计划网络,它是社交互动过程中自然语言生成的核心。

据介绍,在谈话过程中,人们通过快速回应他们的合作伙伴轮流发言,同时避免被打断。这种相互作用表现出了显著的协调程度,间隔通常约为 200 毫秒大约是眨眼的持续时间。这些延迟比在简单的单词生成任务中观察到的要短得多,这表明说话者经常在倾听合作伙伴说话的同时也计划着他们的应答。尽管大脑区域的分布网络与言语计划有关,但人们对支持快速转换过程背后的神经动力学机理知之甚少。

附:英文原文

Title: A speech planning network for interactive language use

Author: Castellucci, Gregg A., Kovach, Christopher K., Howard, Matthew A., Greenlee, Jeremy D. W., Long, Michael A.

Issue&Volume: 2022-01-05

Abstract: During conversation, people take turns speaking by rapidly responding to their partners while simultaneously avoiding interruption1,2. Such interactions display a remarkable degree of coordination, as gaps between turns are typically about 200milliseconds3—approximately the duration of an eyeblink4. These latencies are considerably shorter than those observed in simple word-production tasks, which indicates that speakers often plan their responses while listening to their partners2. Although a distributed network of brain regions has been implicated in speech planning5,6,7,8,9, the neural dynamics underlying the specific preparatory processes that enable rapid turn-taking are poorly understood. Here we use intracranial electrocorticography to precisely measure neural activity as participants perform interactive tasks, and we observe a functionally and anatomically distinct class of planning-related cortical dynamics. We localize these responses to a frontotemporal circuit centred on the language-critical caudal inferior frontal cortex10 (Broca’s region) and the caudal middle frontal gyrus—a region not normally implicated in speech planning11,12,13. Using a series of motor tasks, we then show that this planning network is more active when preparing speech as opposed to non-linguistic actions. Finally, we delineate planning-related circuitry during natural conversation that is nearly identical to the network mapped with our interactive tasks, and we find this circuit to be most active before participant speech during unconstrained turn-taking. Therefore, we have identified a speech planning network that is central to natural language generation during social interaction.

DOI: 10.1038/s41586-021-04270-z

Source: https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-021-04270-z

期刊信息

Nature:《自然》,创刊于1869年。隶属于施普林格·自然出版集团,最新IF:43.07
官方网址:http://www.nature.com/
投稿链接:http://www.nature.com/authors/submit_manuscript.html