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Liu L, Lai R, Singh L, Kalashnikova M, Wong PCM, Kasisopa B, Chen A, Onsuwan C, Burnham D. The tone atlas of perceptual discriminability and perceptual distance: Four tone languages and five language groups. BRAIN AND LANGUAGE 2022; 229:105106. [PMID: 35390675 DOI: 10.1016/j.bandl.2022.105106] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/15/2021] [Revised: 03/02/2022] [Accepted: 03/08/2022] [Indexed: 06/14/2023]
Abstract
Some prior investigations suggest that tone perception is flexible, reasonably independent of native phonology, whereas others suggest it is constrained by native phonology. We address this issue in a systematic and comprehensive investigation of adult tone perception. Sampling from diverse tone and non-tone speaking communities, we tested discrimination of the three major tone systems (Cantonese, Thai, Mandarin) that dominate the tone perception literature, in relation to native language and language experience as well as stimulus variation (tone properties, presentation order, pitch cues) using linear mixed effect modelling and multidimensional scaling. There was an overall discrimination advantage for tone language speakers and for native tones. However, language- and tone-specific effects, and presentation order effects also emerged. Thus, over and above native phonology, stimulus variation exerts a powerful influence on tone discrimination. This study provides a tone atlas, a reference guide to inform empirical studies of tone sensitivity, both retrospectively and prospectively.
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Affiliation(s)
- Liquan Liu
- School of Psychology, Western Sydney University, Australia; The MARCS Institute for Brain, Behaviour and Development, Western Sydney University, Australia; Center for Multilingualism in Society Across the Lifespan, University of Oslo, Norway; Centre of Excellence for the Dynamics of Language, Australian Research Council, Australia.
| | - Regine Lai
- Department of Linguistics and Modern Languages, The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong
| | - Leher Singh
- Department of Psychology, National University of Singapore, Singapore
| | - Marina Kalashnikova
- The MARCS Institute for Brain, Behaviour and Development, Western Sydney University, Australia; Basque Center on Cognition, Brain and Language, Spain; Ikerbasque, Basque Foundation for Science, Spain
| | - Patrick C M Wong
- Department of Linguistics and Modern Languages, The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong; Brain and Mind Institute, The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong
| | - Benjawan Kasisopa
- The MARCS Institute for Brain, Behaviour and Development, Western Sydney University, Australia
| | - Ao Chen
- School of Communication Sciences, Beijing Language and Culture University, China
| | - Chutamanee Onsuwan
- Department of Linguistics, Faculty of Liberal Arts and Center of Excellence in Intelligent Informatics, Speech and Language Technology, and Service Innovation (CILS), Thammasat University, Thailand
| | - Denis Burnham
- The MARCS Institute for Brain, Behaviour and Development, Western Sydney University, Australia.
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Monahan PJ, Schertz J, Fu Z, Pérez A. Unified Coding of Spectral and Temporal Phonetic Cues: Electrophysiological Evidence for Abstract Phonological Features. J Cogn Neurosci 2022; 34:618-638. [DOI: 10.1162/jocn_a_01817] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/04/2022]
Abstract
Abstract
Spoken word recognition models and phonological theory propose that abstract features play a central role in speech processing. It remains unknown, however, whether auditory cortex encodes linguistic features in a manner beyond the phonetic properties of the speech sounds themselves. We took advantage of the fact that English phonology functionally codes stops and fricatives as voiced or voiceless with two distinct phonetic cues: Fricatives use a spectral cue, whereas stops use a temporal cue. Evidence that these cues can be grouped together would indicate the disjunctive coding of distinct phonetic cues into a functionally defined abstract phonological feature. In English, the voicing feature, which distinguishes the consonants [s] and [t] from [z] and [d], respectively, is hypothesized to be specified only for voiceless consonants (e.g., [s t]). Here, participants listened to syllables in a many-to-one oddball design, while their EEG was recorded. In one block, both voiceless stops and fricatives were the standards. In the other block, both voiced stops and fricatives were the standards. A critical design element was the presence of intercategory variation within the standards. Therefore, a many-to-one relationship, which is necessary to elicit an MMN, existed only if the stop and fricative standards were grouped together. In addition to the ERPs, event-related spectral power was also analyzed. Results showed an MMN effect in the voiceless standards block—an asymmetric MMN—in a time window consistent with processing in auditory cortex, as well as increased prestimulus beta-band oscillatory power to voiceless standards. These findings suggest that (i) there is an auditory memory trace of the standards based on the shared (voiceless) feature, which is only functionally defined; (ii) voiced consonants are underspecified; and (iii) features can serve as a basis for predictive processing. Taken together, these results point toward auditory cortex's ability to functionally code distinct phonetic cues together and suggest that abstract features can be used to parse the continuous acoustic signal.
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Affiliation(s)
| | | | - Zhanao Fu
- Cambridge University, United Kingdom
| | - Alejandro Pérez
- University of Toronto Scarborough, Ontario, Canada
- Cambridge University, United Kingdom
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Nudga N, Urbanec J, Oceláková Z, Kremláček J, Chládková K. Neural Processing of Spectral and Durational Changes in Speech and Non-speech Stimuli: An MMN Study With Czech Adults. Front Hum Neurosci 2021; 15:643655. [PMID: 34434094 PMCID: PMC8380928 DOI: 10.3389/fnhum.2021.643655] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/18/2020] [Accepted: 06/29/2021] [Indexed: 11/13/2022] Open
Abstract
Neural discrimination of auditory contrasts is usually studied via the mismatch negativity (MMN) component of the event-related potentials (ERPs). In the processing of speech contrasts, the magnitude of MMN is determined by both the acoustic as well as the phonological distance between stimuli. Also, the MMN can be modulated by the order in which the stimuli are presented, thus indexing perceptual asymmetries in speech sound processing. Here we assessed the MMN elicited by two types of phonological contrasts, namely vowel quality and vowel length, assuming that both will elicit a comparably strong MMN as both are phonemic in the listeners' native language (Czech) and perceptually salient. Furthermore, we tested whether these phonemic contrasts are processed asymmetrically, and whether the asymmetries are acoustically or linguistically conditioned. The MMN elicited by the spectral change between /a/ and /ε/ was comparable to the MMN elicited by the durational change between /ε/ and /ε:/, suggesting that both types of contrasts are perceptually important for Czech listeners. The spectral change in vowels yielded an asymmetrical pattern manifested by a larger MMN response to the change from /ε/ to /a/ than from /a/ to /ε/. The lack of such an asymmetry in the MMN to the same spectral change in comparable non-speech stimuli spoke against an acoustically-based explanation, indicating that it may instead have been the phonological properties of the vowels that triggered the asymmetry. The potential phonological origins of the asymmetry are discussed within the featurally underspecified lexicon (FUL) framework, and conclusions are drawn about the perceptual relevance of the place and height features for the Czech /ε/-/a/ contrast.
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Affiliation(s)
- Natalia Nudga
- Faculty of Arts, Institute of Phonetics, Charles University, Prague, Czechia
| | - Josef Urbanec
- Department of Pathological Physiology, Faculty of Medicine in Hradec Králové, Charles University, Hradec Králové, Czechia
- Pediatrics Department, Havlíčkův Brod Hospital, Havlíčkův Brod, Czechia
| | - Zuzana Oceláková
- Faculty of Arts, Institute of Phonetics, Charles University, Prague, Czechia
| | - Jan Kremláček
- Department of Pathological Physiology, Faculty of Medicine in Hradec Králové, Charles University, Hradec Králové, Czechia
- Department of Medical Biophysics, Faculty of Medicine in Hradec Králové, Charles University, Hradec Králové, Czechia
| | - Kateřina Chládková
- Faculty of Arts, Institute of Czech Language and Theory of Communication, Charles University, Prague, Czechia
- Institute of Psychology, Czech Academy of Sciences, Brno, Czechia
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Kask L, Põldver N, Lippus P, Kreegipuu K. Perceptual Asymmetries and Auditory Processing of Estonian Quantities. Front Hum Neurosci 2021; 15:612617. [PMID: 33994973 PMCID: PMC8113410 DOI: 10.3389/fnhum.2021.612617] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/30/2020] [Accepted: 03/25/2021] [Indexed: 11/17/2022] Open
Abstract
Similar to visual perception, auditory perception also has a clearly described “pop-out” effect, where an element with some extra feature is easier to detect among elements without an extra feature. This phenomenon is better known as auditory perceptual asymmetry. We investigated such asymmetry between shorter or longer duration, and level or falling of pitch of linguistic stimuli that carry a meaning in one language (Estonian), but not in another (Russian). For the mismatch negativity (MMN) experiment, we created four different types of stimuli by modifying the duration of the first vowel [ɑ] (170, 290 ms) and pitch contour (level vs. falling pitch) of the stimuli words (‘SATA,’ ‘SAKI’). The stimuli were synthesized from Estonian words (‘SATA,’ ‘SAKI’) and follow the Estonian language three-way quantity system, which incorporates tonal features (falling pitch contour) together with temporal patterns. This made the meaning of the word dependent on the combination of both features and allows us to compare the relative contribution of duration and pitch contour in discrimination of language stimuli in the brain via MMN generation. The participants of the experiment were 12 Russian native speakers with little or no experience in Estonian and living in Estonia short-term, and 12 Estonian native speakers (age 18–27 years). We found that participants’ perception of the linguistic stimuli differed not only according to the physical features but also according to their native language, confirming that the meaning of the word interferes with the early automatic processing of phonological features. The GAMM and ANOVA analysis of the reversed design results showed that the deviant with longer duration among shorter standards elicited a MMN response with greater amplitude than the short deviant among long standards, while changes in pitch contour (falling vs. level pitch) produced neither strong MMN nor asymmetry. Thus, we demonstrate the effect of language background on asymmetric perception of linguistic stimuli that aligns with those of previous studies (Jaramillo et al., 2000), and contributes to the growing body of knowledge supporting auditory perceptual asymmetry.
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Affiliation(s)
- Liis Kask
- Institute of Psychology, University of Tartu, Tartu, Estonia.,Doctoral School of Behavioural, Social and Health Sciences, University of Tartu, Tartu, Estonia
| | - Nele Põldver
- Institute of Psychology, University of Tartu, Tartu, Estonia
| | - Pärtel Lippus
- Institute of Estonian and General Linguistics, University of Tartu, Tartu, Estonia
| | - Kairi Kreegipuu
- Institute of Psychology, University of Tartu, Tartu, Estonia
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Meng Y, Kotzor S, Xu C, S. Z. Wynne H, Lahiri A. Asymmetric Influence of Vocalic Context on Mandarin Sibilants: Evidence From ERP Studies. Front Hum Neurosci 2021; 15:617318. [PMID: 33967718 PMCID: PMC8100247 DOI: 10.3389/fnhum.2021.617318] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/21/2020] [Accepted: 02/23/2021] [Indexed: 12/01/2022] Open
Abstract
In the present study, we examine the interactive effect of vowels on Mandarin fricative sibilants using a passive oddball paradigm to determine whether the HEIGHT features of vowels can spread on the surface and influence preceding consonants with unspecified features. The stimuli are two pairs of Mandarin words ([sa] ∼ [ʂa] and [su] ∼ [ʂu]) contrasting in vowel HEIGHT ([LOW] vs. [HIGH]). Each word in the same pair was presented both as standard and deviant, resulting in four conditions (/standard/[deviant]: /sa/[ʂa] ∼ /ʂa/[sa] and /su/[ʂu] ∼ /ʂu/[su]). In line with the Featurally Underspecified Lexicon (FUL) model, asymmetric patterns of processing were found in the [su] ∼ [ʂu] word pair where both the MMN (mismatch negativity) and LDN (late discriminative negativity) components were more negative in /su/[ʂu] (mismatch) than in /ʂu/[su] (no mismatch), suggesting the spreading of the feature [HIGH] from the vowel [u] to [ʂ] on the surface. In the [sa] ∼ [ʂa] pair, however, symmetric negativities (for both MMN and LDN) were observed as there is no conflict between the surface feature [LOW] from [a] to [ʂ] and the underlying specified feature [LOW] of [s]. These results confirm that not all features are fully specified in the mental lexicon: features of vowels can spread on the surface and influence surrounding unspecified segments.
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Affiliation(s)
- Yaxuan Meng
- Faculty of Linguistics, Philology and Phonetics, University of Oxford, Oxford, United Kingdom
| | - Sandra Kotzor
- Faculty of Linguistics, Philology and Phonetics, University of Oxford, Oxford, United Kingdom
- School of Education, Oxford Brookes University, Oxford, United Kingdom
| | - Chenzi Xu
- Faculty of Linguistics, Philology and Phonetics, University of Oxford, Oxford, United Kingdom
| | - Hilary S. Z. Wynne
- Faculty of Linguistics, Philology and Phonetics, University of Oxford, Oxford, United Kingdom
| | - Aditi Lahiri
- Faculty of Linguistics, Philology and Phonetics, University of Oxford, Oxford, United Kingdom
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Fu Z, Monahan PJ. Extracting Phonetic Features From Natural Classes: A Mismatch Negativity Study of Mandarin Chinese Retroflex Consonants. Front Hum Neurosci 2021; 15:609898. [PMID: 33841113 PMCID: PMC8029992 DOI: 10.3389/fnhum.2021.609898] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/24/2020] [Accepted: 02/23/2021] [Indexed: 11/13/2022] Open
Abstract
How speech sounds are represented in the brain is not fully understood. The mismatch negativity (MMN) has proven to be a powerful tool in this regard. The MMN event-related potential is elicited by a deviant stimulus embedded within a series of repeating standard stimuli. Listeners construct auditory memory representations of these standards despite acoustic variability. In most designs that test speech sounds, however, this variation is typically intra-category: All standards belong to the same phonetic category. In the current paper, inter-category variation is presented in the standards. These standards vary in manner of articulation but share a common phonetic feature. In the standard retroflex experimental block, Mandarin Chinese speaking participants are presented with a series of "standard" consonants that share the feature [retroflex], interrupted by infrequent non-retroflex deviants. In the non-retroflex standard experimental block, non-retroflex standards are interrupted by infrequent retroflex deviants. The within-block MMN was calculated, as was the identity MMN (iMMN) to account for intrinsic differences in responses to the stimuli. We only observed a within-block MMN to the non-retroflex deviant embedded in the standard retroflex block. This suggests that listeners extract [retroflex] despite significant inter-category variation. In the non-retroflex standard block, because there is little on which to base a coherent auditory memory representation, no within-block MMN was observed. The iMMN to the retroflex was observed in a late time-window at centro-parieto-occipital electrode sites instead of fronto-central electrodes, where the MMN is typically observed, potentially reflecting the increased difficulty posed by the added variation in the standards. In short, participants can construct auditory memory representations despite significant acoustic and inter-category phonological variation so long as a shared phonetic feature binds them together.
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Affiliation(s)
- Zhanao Fu
- Department of Linguistics, University of Toronto, Toronto, ON, Canada
| | - Philip J. Monahan
- Department of Linguistics, University of Toronto, Toronto, ON, Canada
- Department of Language Studies, University of Toronto Scarborough, Toronto, ON, Canada
- Department of Psychology, University of Toronto Scarborough, Toronto, ON, Canada
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7
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Riedinger M, Nagels A, Werth A, Scharinger M. Asymmetries in Accessing Vowel Representations Are Driven by Phonological and Acoustic Properties: Neural and Behavioral Evidence From Natural German Minimal Pairs. Front Hum Neurosci 2021; 15:612345. [PMID: 33679344 PMCID: PMC7930067 DOI: 10.3389/fnhum.2021.612345] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/30/2020] [Accepted: 01/26/2021] [Indexed: 11/21/2022] Open
Abstract
In vowel discrimination, commonly found discrimination patterns are directional asymmetries where discrimination is faster (or easier) if differing vowels are presented in a certain sequence compared to the reversed sequence. Different models of speech sound processing try to account for these asymmetries based on either phonetic or phonological properties. In this study, we tested and compared two of those often-discussed models, namely the Featurally Underspecified Lexicon (FUL) model (Lahiri and Reetz, 2002) and the Natural Referent Vowel (NRV) framework (Polka and Bohn, 2011). While most studies presented isolated vowels, we investigated a large stimulus set of German vowels in a more naturalistic setting within minimal pairs. We conducted an mismatch negativity (MMN) study in a passive and a reaction time study in an active oddball paradigm. In both data sets, we found directional asymmetries that can be explained by either phonological or phonetic theories. While behaviorally, the vowel discrimination was based on phonological properties, both tested models failed to explain the found neural patterns comprehensively. Therefore, we additionally examined the influence of a variety of articulatory, acoustical, and lexical factors (e.g., formant structure, intensity, duration, and frequency of occurrence) but also the influence of factors beyond the well-known (perceived loudness of vowels, degree of openness) in depth via multiple regression analyses. The analyses revealed that the perceptual factor of perceived loudness has a greater impact than considered in the literature and should be taken stronger into consideration when analyzing preattentive natural vowel processing.
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Affiliation(s)
- Miriam Riedinger
- Department of English and Linguistics, Johannes Gutenberg University, Mainz, Germany
| | - Arne Nagels
- Department of English and Linguistics, Johannes Gutenberg University, Mainz, Germany
| | - Alexander Werth
- Institute for German Linguistics, Philipps University, Marburg, Germany
| | - Mathias Scharinger
- Institute for German Linguistics, Philipps University, Marburg, Germany
- Department of Language and Literature, Max Planck Institute for Empirical Aesthetics, Frankfurt, Germany
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Cummings AE, Wu YC, Ogiela DA. Phonological Underspecification: An Explanation for How a Rake Can Become Awake. Front Hum Neurosci 2021; 15:585817. [PMID: 33679342 PMCID: PMC7925882 DOI: 10.3389/fnhum.2021.585817] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/21/2020] [Accepted: 01/25/2021] [Indexed: 11/13/2022] Open
Abstract
Neural markers, such as the mismatch negativity (MMN), have been used to examine the phonological underspecification of English feature contrasts using the Featurally Underspecified Lexicon (FUL) model. However, neural indices have not been examined within the approximant phoneme class, even though there is evidence suggesting processing asymmetries between liquid (e.g., /ɹ/) and glide (e.g., /w/) phonemes. The goal of this study was to determine whether glide phonemes elicit electrophysiological asymmetries related to [consonantal] underspecification when contrasted with liquid phonemes in adult English speakers. Specifically, /ɹɑ/ is categorized as [+consonantal] while /wɑ/ is not specified [i.e., (-consonantal)]. Following the FUL framework, if /w/ is less specified than /ɹ/, the former phoneme should elicit a larger MMN response than the latter phoneme. Fifteen English-speaking adults were presented with two syllables, /ɹɑ/ and /wɑ/, in an event-related potential (ERP) oddball paradigm in which both syllables served as the standard and deviant stimulus in opposite stimulus sets. Three types of analyses were used: (1) traditional mean amplitude measurements; (2) cluster-based permutation analyses; and (3) event-related spectral perturbation (ERSP) analyses. The less specified /wɑ/ elicited a large MMN, while a much smaller MMN was elicited by the more specified /ɹɑ/. In the standard and deviant ERP waveforms, /wɑ/ elicited a significantly larger negative response than did /ɹɑ/. Theta activity elicited by /ɹɑ/ was significantly greater than that elicited by /wɑ/ in the 100-300 ms time window. Also, low gamma activation was significantly lower for /ɹɑ/ vs. /wɑ/ deviants over the left hemisphere, as compared to the right, in the 100-150 ms window. These outcomes suggest that the [consonantal] feature follows the underspecification predictions of FUL previously tested with the place of articulation and voicing features. Thus, this study provides new evidence for phonological underspecification. Moreover, as neural oscillation patterns have not previously been discussed in the underspecification literature, the ERSP analyses identified potential new indices of phonological underspecification.
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Affiliation(s)
- Alycia E. Cummings
- Department of Communication Sciences and Disorders, Idaho State University, Meridian, ID, United States
| | - Ying C. Wu
- Swartz Center for Computational Neuroscience, University of California, San Diego, San Diego, CA, United States
| | - Diane A. Ogiela
- Department of Communication Sciences and Disorders, Idaho State University, Meridian, ID, United States
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Cummings AE, Ogiela DA, Wu YC. Evidence for [Coronal] Underspecification in Typical and Atypical Phonological Development. Front Hum Neurosci 2021; 14:580697. [PMID: 33414710 PMCID: PMC7782969 DOI: 10.3389/fnhum.2020.580697] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/06/2020] [Accepted: 11/30/2020] [Indexed: 11/13/2022] Open
Abstract
The Featurally Underspecified Lexicon (FUL) theory predicts that [coronal] is the language universal default place of articulation for phonemes. This assumption has been consistently supported with adult behavioral and event-related potential (ERP) data; however, this underspecification claim has not been tested in developmental populations. The purpose of this study was to determine whether children demonstrate [coronal] underspecification patterns similar to those of adults. Two English consonants differing in place of articulation, [labial] /b/ and [coronal] /d/, were presented to 24 children (ages 4-6 years) characterized by either a typically developing phonological system (TD) or a phonological disorder (PD). Two syllables, /bɑ/ and /dɑ/, were presented in an ERP oddball paradigm where both syllables served as the standard and deviant stimulus in opposite stimulus sets. Underspecification was examined with three analyses: traditional mean amplitude measurements, cluster-based permutation tests, and single-trial general linear model (GLM) analyses of single-subject data. Contrary to previous adult findings, children with PD demonstrated a large positive mismatch response (PMR) to /bɑ/ while the children with TD exhibited a negative mismatch response (MMN); significant group differences were not observed in the /dɑ/ responses. Moreover, the /bɑ/ deviant ERP response was significantly larger in the TD children than in the children with PD. At the single-subject level, more children demonstrated mismatch responses to /dɑ/ than to /bɑ/, though some children had a /bɑ/ mismatch response and no /dɑ/ mismatch response. While both groups of children demonstrated similar responses to the underspecified /dɑ/, their neural responses to the more specified /bɑ/ varied. These findings are interpreted within a proposed developmental model of phonological underspecification, wherein children with PD are functioning at a developmentally less mature stage of phonological acquisition than their same-aged TD peers. Thus, phonological underspecification is a phenomenon that likely develops over time with experience and exposure to language.
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Affiliation(s)
- Alycia E Cummings
- Department of Communication Sciences and Disorders, Idaho State University, Meridian, ID, United States
| | - Diane A Ogiela
- Department of Communication Sciences and Disorders, Idaho State University, Meridian, ID, United States
| | - Ying C Wu
- Swartz Center for Computational Neuroscience, University of California, San Diego, San Diego, CA, United States
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Neural Signal to Violations of Abstract Rules Using Speech-Like Stimuli. eNeuro 2019; 6:ENEURO.0128-19.2019. [PMID: 31551251 PMCID: PMC6787344 DOI: 10.1523/eneuro.0128-19.2019] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/02/2019] [Revised: 07/27/2019] [Accepted: 07/27/2019] [Indexed: 11/30/2022] Open
Abstract
As the evidence of predictive processes playing a role in a wide variety of cognitive domains increases, the brain as a predictive machine becomes a central idea in neuroscience. In auditory processing, a considerable amount of progress has been made using variations of the Oddball design, but most of the existing work seems restricted to predictions based on physical features or conditional rules linking successive stimuli. To characterize the predictive capacity of the brain to abstract rules, we present here two experiments that use speech-like stimuli to overcome limitations and avoid common confounds. Pseudowords were presented in isolation, intermixed with infrequent deviants that contained unexpected phoneme sequences. As hypothesized, the occurrence of unexpected sequences of phonemes reliably elicited an early prediction error signal. These prediction error signals do not seemed to be modulated by attentional manipulations due to different task instructions, suggesting that the predictions are deployed even when the task at hand does not volitionally involve error detection. In contrast, the amount of syllables congruent with a standard pseudoword presented before the point of deviance exerted a strong modulation. Prediction error’s amplitude doubled when two congruent syllables were presented instead of one, despite keeping local transitional probabilities constant. This suggests that auditory predictions can be built integrating information beyond the immediate past. In sum, the results presented here further contribute to the understanding of the predictive capabilities of the human auditory system when facing complex stimuli and abstract rules.
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Liu L, Ong JH, Tuninetti A, Escudero P. One Way or Another: Evidence for Perceptual Asymmetry in Pre-attentive Learning of Non-native Contrasts. Front Psychol 2018; 9:162. [PMID: 29615941 PMCID: PMC5869940 DOI: 10.3389/fpsyg.2018.00162] [Citation(s) in RCA: 7] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/06/2017] [Accepted: 01/31/2018] [Indexed: 11/19/2022] Open
Abstract
Research investigating listeners' neural sensitivity to speech sounds has largely focused on segmental features. We examined Australian English listeners' perception and learning of a supra-segmental feature, pitch direction in a non-native tonal contrast, using a passive oddball paradigm and electroencephalography. The stimuli were two contours generated from naturally produced high-level and high-falling tones in Mandarin Chinese, differing only in pitch direction (Liu and Kager, 2014). While both contours had similar pitch onsets, the pitch offset of the falling contour was lower than that of the level one. The contrast was presented in two orientations (standard and deviant reversed) and tested in two blocks with the order of block presentation counterbalanced. Mismatch negativity (MMN) responses showed that listeners discriminated the non-native tonal contrast only in the second block, reflecting indications of learning through exposure during the first block. In addition, listeners showed a later MMN peak for their second block of test relative to listeners who did the same block first, suggesting linguistic (as opposed to acoustic) processing or a misapplication of perceptual strategies from the first to the second block. The results also showed a perceptual asymmetry for change in pitch direction: listeners who encountered a falling tone deviant in the first block had larger frontal MMN amplitudes than listeners who encountered a level tone deviant in the first block. The implications of our findings for second language speech and the developmental trajectory for tone perception are discussed.
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Affiliation(s)
- Liquan Liu
- School of Social Sciences and Psychology, Western Sydney University, Penrith, NSW, Australia
- The MARCS Institute for Brain, Behaviour and Development, Western Sydney University, Penrith, NSW, Australia
- Centre of Excellence for the Dynamics of Language, Australian Research Council, Canberra, ACT, Australia
| | - Jia Hoong Ong
- Centre of Excellence for the Dynamics of Language, Australian Research Council, Canberra, ACT, Australia
- Division of Linguistics and Multilingual Studies, School of Humanities, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore, Singapore
| | - Alba Tuninetti
- The MARCS Institute for Brain, Behaviour and Development, Western Sydney University, Penrith, NSW, Australia
- Centre of Excellence for the Dynamics of Language, Australian Research Council, Canberra, ACT, Australia
| | - Paola Escudero
- The MARCS Institute for Brain, Behaviour and Development, Western Sydney University, Penrith, NSW, Australia
- Centre of Excellence for the Dynamics of Language, Australian Research Council, Canberra, ACT, Australia
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Lawyer LA, Corina DP. Putting underspecification in context: ERP evidence for sparse representations in morphophonological alternations. LANGUAGE, COGNITION AND NEUROSCIENCE 2017; 33:50-64. [PMID: 29963576 PMCID: PMC6022760 DOI: 10.1080/23273798.2017.1359635] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/16/2016] [Accepted: 07/14/2017] [Indexed: 06/01/2023]
Abstract
Numerous studies have shown evidence for a sparse lexicon in speech perception, often in the guise of underspecification, where certain information is omitted in the specification of phonological forms. While previous work has made a good case for underspecifying certain features of single speech sounds, the role of phonological context in underspecification has been overlooked. Contextually-mediated underspecification is particularly relevant to conceptualizations of the lexicon, as it is couched in item-specific (as opposed to phoneme-specific) patterning. In this study, we present behavioral and ERP evidence that surrounding phonological context may trigger underspecified lexical forms, using regular morphophonological alternations in English.
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Affiliation(s)
- Laurel A Lawyer
- Department of Language and Linguistics, University of Essex, Wivenhoe Park, Colchester, UK
| | - David P Corina
- Department of Linguistics, Department of Psychology, and Center for Mind & Brain, University of California, Davis, USA
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Schluter KT, Politzer-Ahles S, Al Kaabi M, Almeida D. Laryngeal Features Are Phonetically Abstract: Mismatch Negativity Evidence from Arabic, English, and Russian. Front Psychol 2017; 8:746. [PMID: 28555118 PMCID: PMC5430061 DOI: 10.3389/fpsyg.2017.00746] [Citation(s) in RCA: 11] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/20/2016] [Accepted: 04/24/2017] [Indexed: 11/29/2022] Open
Abstract
Many theories of phonology assume that the sound structure of language is made up of distinctive features, but there is considerable debate about how much articulatory detail distinctive features encode in long-term memory. Laryngeal features such as voicing provide a unique window into this question: while many languages have two-way contrasts that can be given a simple binary feature account [±VOICE], the precise articulatory details underlying these contrasts can vary significantly across languages. Here, we investigate a series of two-way voicing contrasts in English, Arabic, and Russian, three languages that implement their voicing contrasts very differently at the articulatory-phonetic level. In three event-related potential experiments contrasting English, Arabic, and Russian fricatives along with Russian stops, we observe a consistent pattern of asymmetric mismatch negativity (MMN) effects that is compatible with an articulatorily abstract and cross-linguistically uniform way of marking two-way voicing contrasts, as opposed to an articulatorily precise and cross-linguistically diverse way of encoding them. Regardless of whether a language is theorized to encode [VOICE] over [SPREAD GLOTTIS], the data is consistent with a universal marking of the [SPREAD GLOTTIS] feature.
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Affiliation(s)
- Kevin T Schluter
- Division of Science, New York University Abu DhabiAbu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates
| | - Stephen Politzer-Ahles
- Faculty of Linguistics, Philology, and Phonetics, University of OxfordOxford, UK.,NYUAD InstituteNew York University Abu Dhabi, Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates.,Department of Chinese and Bilingual Studies, The Hong Kong Polytechnic UniversityKowloon, Hong Kong
| | - Meera Al Kaabi
- NYUAD InstituteNew York University Abu Dhabi, Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates.,Department of Applied Language Sciences, United Arab Emirates UniversityAl-Ain, United Arab Emirates
| | - Diogo Almeida
- Division of Science, New York University Abu DhabiAbu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates
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Lawyer LA, Corina DP. Distinguishing underlying and surface variation patterns in speech perception. LANGUAGE, COGNITION AND NEUROSCIENCE 2017; 32:1176-1191. [PMID: 30899765 PMCID: PMC6424519 DOI: 10.1080/23273798.2017.1318213] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/05/2016] [Accepted: 03/31/2017] [Indexed: 06/09/2023]
Abstract
This study examines the relationship between patterns of variation and speech perception using two English prefixes: 'in-'/'im-' and 'un-'. In natural speech, 'in-' varies due to an underlying process of phonological assimilation, while 'un-' shows a pattern of surface variation, assimilating before labial stems. In a go/no-go lexical decision experiment, subjects were presented a set of 'mispronounced' stimuli in which the prefix nasal was altered (replacing [n] with [m], or vice versa), in addition to real words with unaltered prefixes. No significant differences between prefixes were found in responses to unaltered words. In mispronounced items, responses to 'un-' forms were faster and more accurate than to 'in-' forms, although a significant interaction mitigated this effect in labial contexts. These results suggest the regularity of variation patterns has consequences for the lexical specification of words, and argues against radical under-specification accounts which argue for a maximally sparse lexicon.
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Affiliation(s)
- Laurel A Lawyer
- Department of Linguistics, Center for Mind and Brain, University of California, Davis, 267 Cousteau Drive, Davis, CA 95618, (530) 297-4427
| | - David P Corina
- Department of Linguistics & Department of Psychology, Center for Mind and Brain, University of California, Davis, 267 Cousteau Drive, Davis, CA 95618, (530) 297-4427,
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Mah J, Goad H, Steinhauer K. Using Event-Related Brain Potentials to Assess Perceptibility: The Case of French Speakers and English [h]. Front Psychol 2016; 7:1469. [PMID: 27757086 PMCID: PMC5048474 DOI: 10.3389/fpsyg.2016.01469] [Citation(s) in RCA: 6] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/29/2016] [Accepted: 09/12/2016] [Indexed: 11/13/2022] Open
Abstract
French speaking learners of English encounter persistent difficulty acquiring English [h], thus confusing words like eat and heat in both production and perception. We assess the hypothesis that the acoustic properties of [h] may render detection of this segment in the speech stream insufficiently reliable for second language acquisition. We use the mismatch negativity (MMN) in event-related potentials to investigate [h] perception in French speaking learners of English and native English controls, comparing both linguistic and non-linguistic conditions in an unattended oddball paradigm. Unlike native speakers, French learners of English elicit an MMN response only in the non-linguistic condition. Our results provide neurobiological evidence against the hypothesis that French speakers’ difficulties with [h] are acoustically based. They instead suggest that the problem is in constructing an appropriate phonological representation for [h] in the interlanguage grammar.
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Affiliation(s)
- Jennifer Mah
- Department of Humanities, Faculty of Arts, Mount Royal UniversityCalgary, AB, Canada; Department of Linguistics, McGill UniversityMontreal, QC, Canada; Language Research Centre, University of CalgaryCalgary, AB, Canada
| | - Heather Goad
- Department of Linguistics, McGill UniversityMontreal, QC, Canada; Centre for Research on Brain, Language and Music, McGill UniversityMontreal, QC, Canada
| | - Karsten Steinhauer
- Centre for Research on Brain, Language and Music, McGill UniversityMontreal, QC, Canada; Neurocognition of Language Laboratory, School of Communication Sciences and Disorders, Faculty of Medicine, McGill UniversityMontreal, QC, Canada
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