Learning to Perceive Non-Native Tones via Distributional Training: Effects of Task and Acoustic Cue Weighting
As many distributional learning (DL) studies have shown, adult listeners can achieve discrimination of a difficult non-native contrast after a short repetitive exposure to tokens falling at the extremes of that contrast. Such studies have shown using behavioural methods that a short distributional t...
| Main Authors: | , , , , , , |
|---|---|
| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
MDPI AG
2022-04-01
|
| Series: | Brain Sciences |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | https://www.mdpi.com/2076-3425/12/5/559 |
| _version_ | 1827670012213592064 |
|---|---|
| author | Liquan Liu Chi Yuan Jia Hoong Ong Alba Tuninetti Mark Antoniou Anne Cutler Paola Escudero |
| author_facet | Liquan Liu Chi Yuan Jia Hoong Ong Alba Tuninetti Mark Antoniou Anne Cutler Paola Escudero |
| author_sort | Liquan Liu |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | As many distributional learning (DL) studies have shown, adult listeners can achieve discrimination of a difficult non-native contrast after a short repetitive exposure to tokens falling at the extremes of that contrast. Such studies have shown using behavioural methods that a short distributional training can induce perceptual learning of vowel and consonant contrasts. However, much less is known about the neurological correlates of DL, and few studies have examined non-native lexical tone contrasts. Here, Australian-English speakers underwent DL training on a Mandarin tone contrast using behavioural (discrimination, identification) and neural (oddball-EEG) tasks, with listeners hearing either a bimodal or a unimodal distribution. Behavioural results show that listeners learned to discriminate tones after both unimodal and bimodal training; while EEG responses revealed more learning for listeners exposed to the bimodal distribution. Thus, perceptual learning through exposure to brief sound distributions (a) extends to non-native tonal contrasts, and (b) is sensitive to task, phonetic distance, and acoustic cue-weighting. Our findings have implications for models of how auditory and phonetic constraints influence speech learning. |
| first_indexed | 2024-03-10T03:15:07Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-fb2d151e705b4c52ba3e66e4ae0d7639 |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 2076-3425 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-03-10T03:15:07Z |
| publishDate | 2022-04-01 |
| publisher | MDPI AG |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Brain Sciences |
| spelling | doaj.art-fb2d151e705b4c52ba3e66e4ae0d76392023-11-23T10:17:06ZengMDPI AGBrain Sciences2076-34252022-04-0112555910.3390/brainsci12050559Learning to Perceive Non-Native Tones via Distributional Training: Effects of Task and Acoustic Cue WeightingLiquan Liu0Chi Yuan1Jia Hoong Ong2Alba Tuninetti3Mark Antoniou4Anne Cutler5Paola Escudero6The MARCS Institute for Brain, Behaviour and Development, Western Sydney University, Westmead, NSW 2145, AustraliaThe MARCS Institute for Brain, Behaviour and Development, Western Sydney University, Westmead, NSW 2145, AustraliaThe MARCS Institute for Brain, Behaviour and Development, Western Sydney University, Westmead, NSW 2145, AustraliaThe MARCS Institute for Brain, Behaviour and Development, Western Sydney University, Westmead, NSW 2145, AustraliaThe MARCS Institute for Brain, Behaviour and Development, Western Sydney University, Westmead, NSW 2145, AustraliaThe MARCS Institute for Brain, Behaviour and Development, Western Sydney University, Westmead, NSW 2145, AustraliaThe MARCS Institute for Brain, Behaviour and Development, Western Sydney University, Westmead, NSW 2145, AustraliaAs many distributional learning (DL) studies have shown, adult listeners can achieve discrimination of a difficult non-native contrast after a short repetitive exposure to tokens falling at the extremes of that contrast. Such studies have shown using behavioural methods that a short distributional training can induce perceptual learning of vowel and consonant contrasts. However, much less is known about the neurological correlates of DL, and few studies have examined non-native lexical tone contrasts. Here, Australian-English speakers underwent DL training on a Mandarin tone contrast using behavioural (discrimination, identification) and neural (oddball-EEG) tasks, with listeners hearing either a bimodal or a unimodal distribution. Behavioural results show that listeners learned to discriminate tones after both unimodal and bimodal training; while EEG responses revealed more learning for listeners exposed to the bimodal distribution. Thus, perceptual learning through exposure to brief sound distributions (a) extends to non-native tonal contrasts, and (b) is sensitive to task, phonetic distance, and acoustic cue-weighting. Our findings have implications for models of how auditory and phonetic constraints influence speech learning.https://www.mdpi.com/2076-3425/12/5/559distributional learningtonediscriminationidentificationoddball-EEGphonetic distance |
| spellingShingle | Liquan Liu Chi Yuan Jia Hoong Ong Alba Tuninetti Mark Antoniou Anne Cutler Paola Escudero Learning to Perceive Non-Native Tones via Distributional Training: Effects of Task and Acoustic Cue Weighting Brain Sciences distributional learning tone discrimination identification oddball-EEG phonetic distance |
| title | Learning to Perceive Non-Native Tones via Distributional Training: Effects of Task and Acoustic Cue Weighting |
| title_full | Learning to Perceive Non-Native Tones via Distributional Training: Effects of Task and Acoustic Cue Weighting |
| title_fullStr | Learning to Perceive Non-Native Tones via Distributional Training: Effects of Task and Acoustic Cue Weighting |
| title_full_unstemmed | Learning to Perceive Non-Native Tones via Distributional Training: Effects of Task and Acoustic Cue Weighting |
| title_short | Learning to Perceive Non-Native Tones via Distributional Training: Effects of Task and Acoustic Cue Weighting |
| title_sort | learning to perceive non native tones via distributional training effects of task and acoustic cue weighting |
| topic | distributional learning tone discrimination identification oddball-EEG phonetic distance |
| url | https://www.mdpi.com/2076-3425/12/5/559 |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT liquanliu learningtoperceivenonnativetonesviadistributionaltrainingeffectsoftaskandacousticcueweighting AT chiyuan learningtoperceivenonnativetonesviadistributionaltrainingeffectsoftaskandacousticcueweighting AT jiahoongong learningtoperceivenonnativetonesviadistributionaltrainingeffectsoftaskandacousticcueweighting AT albatuninetti learningtoperceivenonnativetonesviadistributionaltrainingeffectsoftaskandacousticcueweighting AT markantoniou learningtoperceivenonnativetonesviadistributionaltrainingeffectsoftaskandacousticcueweighting AT annecutler learningtoperceivenonnativetonesviadistributionaltrainingeffectsoftaskandacousticcueweighting AT paolaescudero learningtoperceivenonnativetonesviadistributionaltrainingeffectsoftaskandacousticcueweighting |