Visual and auditory native language interference in perceptual learning of non-native speech sounds

2016 ◽  
Vol 139 (4) ◽  
pp. 2162-2162
Author(s):  
Pamela Fuhrmeister ◽  
F. Sayako Earle ◽  
Jay Rueckl ◽  
Emily Myers
Keyword(s):  
Perceptual Learning ◽  
Native Language ◽  
Speech Sounds ◽  
Native Speech

scholarly journals Category labels induce boundary-dependent perceptual warping in learned speech categories

2013 ◽  
Vol 29 (4) ◽  
pp. 391-411 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kristen Swan ◽  
Emily Myers
Keyword(s):  
Native Language ◽  
Category Boundary ◽  
Speech Sounds ◽  
Perceptual Sensitivity ◽  
Relative Placement ◽  
Relevant Category ◽  
Category Labels ◽  
Native Speech ◽  
Phonetic Contrasts ◽  
Stable Categories

Adults tend to perceive speech sounds from their native language as members of distinct and stable categories; however, they fail to perceive differences between many non-native speech sounds without a great deal of training. The present study investigates the effects of categorization training on adults’ ability to discriminate non-native phonetic contrasts. It was hypothesized that only individuals who successfully learned the appropriate categories would show selective improvements in discriminating between-category contrasts. Participants were trained to categorize progressively narrow phonetic contrasts across one of two non-native boundaries, with discrimination pre- and post-tests completed to measure the effects of training on participants’ perceptual sensitivity. Results suggest that changes in adults’ ability to discriminate a non-native contrast depend on their successful learning of the relevant category structure. Furthermore, post-training identification functions show that changes in perceptual categories specifically correspond to their relative placement of the category boundary. Taken together, these results indicate that learning to assign category labels to a non-native speech continuum is sufficient to induce discontinuous perception of between- versus within-category contrasts.

scholarly journals UNPREPARED READING AS A TYPE OF SPONTANEOUS SPEECH (on Signs of Spontaneity in Reading in a Non-Native Language)

2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (2) ◽  
pp. 36-46
Author(s):  
Сhunxia Kong ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Native Language ◽  
Spontaneous Speech ◽  
Individual Characteristics ◽  
Speech Sounds ◽  
Source Text ◽  
Speech Corpus ◽  
Integral Characteristics ◽  
The Individual ◽  
Whole Word

The article discusses unprepared reading in a non-native language and shows it to have all the signs of spontaneity that are traditionally considered integral characteristics of any spontaneous speech: hesitation pauses, both physical (ɭ) and filled with non-speech sounds (uh, m-m), word breaks, reading the whole word or part of it by syllables, vocalization of a consonant, and so forth. The material for the analysis included 40 monologues of reading the story by M. Zoshchenko Fantasy Shirt and a non-plot excerpt from V. Korolenko’s story The Blind Musician recorded from 20 Chinese informants. All the monologues are included in the block of Russian interfering speech of the Chinese as part of the monologic speech corpus Ba­lanced Annotated Text Library. As the analysis showed, it is more often that there is not one sign of spontaneity but a whole complex of such signs, and together they fill hesitation pauses, help the speaker to control the quality of speech or correct what was said, etc. In addition, the occurrence of various signs of spontaneity in the course of unprepared reading is closely related to the individual characteristics of the speaker/reader. In general, we have found that there are more signs of spontaneity in the speech of men (3,244 cases; 40.7 %) than in the speech of women (2,049; 27.7 %), in the speech of informants with a lower level of proficiency in Russian B2 (2,993; 37.9 %) than in the speech of informants with a higher level C1 (2,300; 30.8 %), in the speech of extroverts (1,521; 38 %) than in the speech of ambiverts (1,694; 35,2 %) and introverts (2,078; 31,7 %). As to the type of the source text, there turned out to be more signs of spontaneity in monologues of reading a plot text than in monologues of reading a non-plot text (3,031; 40.3 vs 2,283; 31 %). The paper concludes that reading should be recognized as a spontaneous type of speech activity.

scholarly journals Overlearning of non-native speech sounds does not result in superior consolidation after a period of sleep

2020 ◽  
Vol 147 (3) ◽  
pp. EL289-EL294
Author(s):  
Pamela Fuhrmeister ◽  
Garrett Smith ◽  
Emily B. Myers
Keyword(s):  
Speech Sounds ◽  
Native Speech

Changes in Sensory Evoked Responses Coincide with Rapid Improvement in Speech Identification Performance

2010 ◽  
Vol 22 (2) ◽  
pp. 392-403 ◽  
Author(s):  
Claude Alain ◽  
Sandra Campeanu ◽  
Kelly Tremblay
Keyword(s):  
Perceptual Learning ◽  
Auditory Evoked Potentials ◽  
Voice Onset Time ◽  
Onset Time ◽  
Broadband Noise ◽  
Evoked Responses ◽  
Speech Sounds ◽  
Noise Stimulus ◽  
Sensory Evoked ◽  
Speech Identification

Perceptual learning is sometimes characterized by rapid improvements in performance within the first hour of training (fast perceptual learning), which may be accompanied by changes in sensory and/or response pathways. Here, we report rapid physiological changes in the human auditory system that coincide with learning during a 1-hour test session in which participants learned to identify two consonant vowel syllables that differed in voice onset time. Within each block of trials, listeners were also presented with a broadband noise control stimulus to determine whether changes in auditory evoked potentials were specific to the trained speech cue. The ability to identify the speech sounds improved from the first to the fourth block of trials and remained relatively constant thereafter. This behavioral improvement coincided with a decrease in N1 and P2 amplitude, and these learning-related changes differed from those observed for the noise stimulus. These training-induced changes in sensory evoked responses were followed by an increased negative peak (between 275 and 330 msec) over fronto-central sites and by an increase in sustained activity over the parietal regions. Although the former was also observed for the noise stimulus, the latter was specific to the speech sounds. The results are consistent with a top–down nonspecific attention effect on neural activity during learning as well as a more learning-specific modulation, which is coincident with behavioral improvements in speech identification.

scholarly journals A Meta-Analysis of Infants’ Ability to Perceive Audio-Visual Congruence for Speech Sounds

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Christopher Martin Mikkelsen Cox ◽  
Tamar Keren-Portnoy ◽  
Andreas Roepstorff ◽  
Riccardo Fusaroli
Keyword(s):  
Effect Size ◽  
Robust Regression ◽  
Meta Analysis ◽  
Credible Interval ◽  
Speech Sounds ◽  
Positive Direction ◽  
Moderate Effect Size ◽  
Visual Matching ◽  
Native Speech ◽  
Speech Information

This paper investigates the extent to which infants can integrate synchronous speech information across different modalities. A meta-analysis of 24 studies reporting 92 separate effect size measures suggests that infants possess a robust ability to perceive audio-visual congruence for speech sounds. Applying a hierarchical Bayesian robust regression model to the data indicates a moderate effect size in a positive direction (0.35, CI [0.21: 0.50]). Moderator analyses suggest that infants’ audio-visual matching ability for speech sounds emerges at an early point in process of language acquisition and remains stable for both native and non-native speech throughout early development. A sensitivity analysis of the meta-analytic data indicates that a moderate publication bias for significant results could shift the lower credible interval to include null effects. Based on these findings, we outline recommendations for new lines of enquiry and suggest ways to improve the replicability of results in future investigations.

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