试述刘大櫆的音节论及其在语音修辞中的体现

刘大櫆在《论文偶记》中说到:神气不可见,于音节见之。将音节作为散文理论研究的重要对象。本文在详细论述刘氏音节理论的同时,把它同现代汉语语音修辞相联系,印证了音节是写作学微观研究的一个方面。     

Habituation of infants' cardiac response to speech stimuli

In an attempt to explore the relation between the amount of variability in a stimulus and rate of habituation to that stimulus, 4 groups of infants 4 1/2--5 1/2 months of age were presented with repeated speech stimuli which were synthesized exemplars of [baba], natural exemplars of [baba] or [kaba], or novel syllables of each trial. Infants' cardiac responses to the auditory stimuli were recorded, and the number of trials to a proportional criterion of habituation of the heart-rate decelerative response was determined. Infants were found to habituate most rapidly to the synthesized [baba] stimulus which remained constant across trials and least rapidly to the speech syllables which changed from trial to trial.     

Concept learning by pigeons: Matching-to-sample with trial-unique video picture stimuli

Pigeons were trained to match-to-sample with several new methodologies: a large number of stimuli, computer-drawn color picture stimuli, responses monitored by a computer touch screen, stimuli presented horizontally from the floor, and grain reinforcement delivered onto the picture stimuli. Following acquisition, matching-to-sample concept learning was assessed by transfer to novel stimuli on the first exposure to pairs of novel stimuli. One group (trial-unique), trained with 152 different pictures presented once daily, showed excellent transfer (80% correct). Transfer and baseline performances were equivalent, indicating that the matching-to-sample concept had been learned. A second group (2-stimulus), trained with only two different pictures, showed no evidence of transfer. These results are discussed in terms of the effect of numbers of exemplars on previous failures to find concept learning in pigeons, and the implications of the positive finding from this experiment on abstract concept learning and evolutionary cognitive development.     

Simultaneous processing of visual and spatial stimuli in pigeons

Pigeons were trained to symbolically match comparison stimuli to either visual sample stimuli presented on a center key or to spatial sample stimuli presented on side keys. Tests were carried out in which visual and spatial cues were simultaneously presented in compound and short-term memory was probed for either visual or spatial information. Symmetrical interference with the matching of visual and spatial components of compounds was found when the visual and spatial cues were presented on separate keys. However, when visual and spatial cues were superimposed on the same side key, no interference was observed relative to element control tests. Discussion of these findings focuses on accounts in terms of limited processing capacity, coding decrement, and receptor orientation mechanisms.     

Cognitive correlates of visual speech understanding in hearing-impaired individuals

This study examined the extent to which different measures of speechreading performance correlated with particular cognitive abilities in a population of hearing-impaired people. Although the three speechreading tasks (isolated word identification, sentence comprehension, and text tracking) were highly intercorrelated, they tapped different cognitive skills. In this population, younger participants were better speechreaders, and, when age was taken into account, speech tracking correlated primarily with (written) lexical decision speed. In contrast, speechreading for sentence comprehension correlated most strongly with performance on a phonological processing task (written pseudohomophone detection) but also on a span measure that may have utilized visual, nonverbal memory for letters. We discuss the implications of this pattern.     

Perceptual learning with tactile stimuli in rodents: Shaping the somatosensory system

The animal kingdom contains species with a wide variety of sensory systems that have been selected to function in different environmental niches, but that are also subject to modification by experience during an organism’s lifetime. The modification of such systems by experience is often called perceptual learning. In rodents, the classic example of perceptual learning is the observation that simple preexposure to two visual stimuli facilitates a subsequent (reinforced) discrimination between them. However, until recently very little behavioral research had investigated perceptual learning with tactile stimuli in rodents, in marked contrast to the wealth of information about plasticity in the rodent somatosensory system. Here we present a selective review of behavioral analyses of perceptual learning with tactile stimuli, alongside evidence concerning the potential bases of such effects within the somatosensory system.     

Poison-avoidance learning to food-related tactile stimuli: Avoidance of texture cues by rats

Rats injected with lithium chloride after ingesting familiar food pellets presented in textured metal sleeves learned aversions to the sleeved food. In a choice between sleeved and unsleeved food, the aversions were evident following conditioning with toxicosis delayed as long as 120 min after exposure to the sleeved food (Experiment 1). Texture-specific aversions resulted from procedures in which rats were exposed to food in both rough- and smooth-textured sleeves but were injected with lithium only in conjunction with one of the textures (Experiments 2–4). This differential aversion learning occurred when lithium treatment was delayed 30 min after exposure to the sleeved food (Experiments 3 and 4) and was equally evident in rats conditioned and tested in total darkness or in normal room-level illumination (Experiment 4). However, differential texture aversion learning was not observed with 90- or 300-min delayed toxicosis (Experiment 3). The present experiments highlight the importance of tactile cues in the poison-avoidance learning of species that handle their food during the course of ingestion.     

一言一语总关情——浅谈语音在英语学习中的重要性

对英语语音的学习与单词拼写、语法形式与语感的培养息息相关。对英语语音的和掌握也在一定程度上反映学习者的英语水平。本文简要介绍了语音在英语学习中的重要地位,并认为,语感的培养对学习英语语音有重要作用。     

Using speech sounds to guide word learning: the case of bilingual infants

Despite the prevalence of bilingualism, language acquisition research has focused on monolingual infants. Monolinguals cannot learn minimally different words (e.g., "bih" and "dih") in a laboratory task until 17 months of age (J. F. Werker, C. T. Fennell, K. M. Corcoran, & C. L. Stager, 2002). This study was extended to 14- to 20-month-old bilingual infants: a heterogeneous sample (English and another language; N = 48) and two homogeneous samples (28 English-Chinese and 25 English-French infants). In all samples, bilinguals did not learn similar-sounding words until 20 months, indicating that they use relevant language sounds (i.e., consonants) to direct word learning developmentally later than monolinguals, possibly due to the increased cognitive load of learning two languages. However, this developmental pattern may be adaptive for bilingual word learning.     

Novelty versus retrieval cue value of visual contextual stimuli in pigeons

Learning & Behavior - Thomas and Empedocles (1992) proposed that in a retention test, the relative enhancement of responding when the context that had accompanied training is again present...     

Effects of audiovisual stimuli on learning through microcomputer-based class presentation

This study examined the differential effects of color, animation and nonverbal sounds incorporated into microcomputer software, on the learning of geometric concepts. The experimental software provided teachers with a detailed lesson outline to be used with one large-screen monitor for whole-class instruction. The stimulus version of the software used all three audiovisual factors as one cueing factor. The no-stimulus version presented the same screen display except in monochrome, with no animations or sound. Ninety-two ninth-grade students, randomly assigned to two treatment groups, answered two aptitude tests, two geometric pre-tests, two geometric immediate post-tests and two one-month delayed post-tests. Two 40-minute computer-guided lessons were delivered by the same teacher using the same software varying only the stimulus treatment. Results revealed significantly better immediate and delayed learning of the stimulus group over the other group. Beneficial effects of the stimulus treatment showed to be inconsistent across post-tests for the learning of either low- or high-aptitude students.     

Recognition memory for lists of visual stimuli in monkeys and humans

In Experiment 1, short-term memory for lists of visual stimuli was studied in four squirrel monkeys (Saimiri sciureus). A delayed-matching procedure was used in which a subject was presented with lists containing one, three, or six stimulus patterns, and memory for serial positions was probed by requiring the subject to choose between a list item and a nonlist item. The rate of item presentation was varied, as was the delay between the final item on a list and the retention test. In Experiment 2, the same procedures were used to compare recognition memory in four monkeys and four humans. Although differences in the levels and shapes of the serial-position curves appeared between species, both monkeys and humans showed primacy and recency effects. The presentation time of stimuli had a negligible effect on performance in both monkeys and humans, whereas delay significantly affected human retention but not monkey retention.     

The effects of extraneous speech on visual vigilance performance of children

First-grade males performed a 30-min visual vigilance task under 5 conditions of auditory background stimulation. The 5 conditions consisted of (1) continuous conversation, in which subjects listened to a tape of conversation spliced so that there were no intervals of silence lasting longer than 3 sec; (2) continuous reverse, in which subjects heard the continuous conversation tape played in reverse; (3) intermittent conversation, in which subjects heard alternating segments of conversation and silence; (4) intermittent reverse, in which subjects heard alternating segments of reverse conversation and silence; and (5) silence control. Compared with silence or continuous stimulation, intermittent stimulation produced better detection regardless of whether or not it was meaningful. High achievers made more correct detections than low achievers, but only in the second and third time periods. Few subjects made errors of commission.     

Opening windows on teaching and learning: transformative and emancipatory learning precipitated by experimenting with visual documentation of student learning

Emancipatory learning can occur through critical reflection grounded in theory. This study describes an action research project in which the author engaged in retrospective structured analysis of an incident involving visual documentation of student learning. It was experienced by a struggling novice teacher educator, who at the time of the incident had neither the theoretical nor structured framework from which to process the experience. Using the transformation theory of adult learning as the basis from which to create a reflection model, the action research examined assumptions about filters and meaning schemes through which insights emerged about a changed paradigm, with implications for other teacher educators about reflective practice.     

Infants' use of synchronized visual information to separate streams of speech

In 4 studies, 7.5-month-olds used synchronized visual-auditory correlations to separate a target speech stream when a distractor passage was presented at equal loudness. Infants succeeded in a segmentation task (using the head-turn preference procedure with video familiarization) when a video of the talker's face was synchronized with the target passage (Experiment 1, N = 30). Infants did not succeed in this task when an unsynchronized (Experiment 2, N = 30) or static (Experiment 3, N = 30) face was presented during familiarization. Infants also succeeded when viewing a synchronized oscilloscope pattern (Experiment 4, N = 26), suggesting that their ability to use visual information is related to domain-general sensitivities to any synchronized auditory-visual correspondence.     

Talking back to big bird: Preschool users and a simple speech recognition system

The present study examined the effectiveness of one configuration of automatic speech recognition (ASR) software and hardware with a child sample of 36 three-year-olds and a comparison sample of 20 adults. Subjects used a speaker-dependent, template-based system to play a simple Sesame Street naming game. Results indicated that while the system performed well with adults, it was much less effective with children. An analysis of the children's performances indicates that children's speech is more variable, in both volume and content, than that of adults. The ASR system responded ineffectively to this variability, resulting in inferior performance. Specific behaviors and their effects on the ASR system are identified, and possible system modifications that address these behaviors are noted.     

语音实验软件系统在英语语调学习中的作用

语音实验软件系统是计算机技术发展的产物.通过在英语语调教学中借助语音实验软件技术,可以强化英语语调教学的效果.语音实验软件通过声音、图像以及文字信息的交互反映辅助英语语调教学,形成声像并茂的语言教学环境,既丰富了英语语调教学的手段,又增强了学生学习英语语调的兴趣.这种教学方法突破了传统英语语调的教学模式,教学更加直观有效,从而达到事半功倍的效果.同时,该方法对实现学生英语语调自主学习大有裨益.