Abstract

Spoken word identification involves during a relatively short temporal window the activation of lexical candidates on the basis of the acoustic pattern of a spoken word and the selection of the appropriate lexical candidate among those activated by the input. The spectral and temporal properties of acoustic patterns, however, can be substantially modified by factors such as speaker's voice and speaking rate. Young adults implicitly (automatically) encode the inherent variability of acoustic patterns and use this information to facilitate speech perception. Research evidence is unclear as to whether aging involves an impairment in these abilities. The proposed experiments will examine whether age- related changes in speech perception can be attributed to defective implicit encoding and/or use of phonetically-relevant information (voice characteristics and speaking rate). Hearing-matched young and older adults will serve as subjects to examine age-related changes in speech perception that are independent of deficits in peripheral auditory processes.

  Funding Agency

Agency
National Institute of Health (NIH)
Institute
National Institute on Deafness and Other Communication Disorders (NIDCD)
Type
Postdoctoral Individual National Research Service Award (F32)
Project #
1F32DC000342-01
Application #
2642988
Study Section
Sensory Disorders and Language Study Section (CMS)
Project Start
1998-09-30
Project End
Budget Start
1998-01-01
Budget End
1999-03-31
Support Year
1
Fiscal Year
1998
Total Cost
Indirect Cost

  Institution

Name
Washington University
Department
Psychology
Type
Schools of Arts and Sciences
DUNS #
062761671
City
Saint Louis
State
MO
Country
United States
Zip Code
63130

  Publications

Pilotti, Maura; Meade, Michelle L; Gallo, David A (2003) Implicit and explicit measures of memory for perceptual information in young adults, healthy older adults, and patients with Alzheimer's disease. Exp Aging Res 29:15-32
Pilotti, Maura; Beyer, Tim; Yasunami, Mariya (2002) Top-down processing and the suffix effect in young and older adults. Mem Cognit 30:89-96
Pilotti, Maura; Beyer, Tim (2002) Perceptual and lexical components of auditory repetition priming in young and older adults. Mem Cognit 30:226-36
Balota, D A; Pilotti, M; Cortese, M J (2001) Subjective frequency estimates for 2,938 monosyllabic words. Mem Cognit 29:639-47
Pilotti, M; Beyer, T; Yasunami, M (2001) Encoding tasks and the processing of perceptual information in young and older adults. J Gerontol B Psychol Sci Soc Sci 56:P119-28
Pilotti, M; Gallo, D A; Roediger 3rd, H L (2000) Effects of hearing words, imaging hearing words, and reading on auditory implicit and explicit memory tests. Mem Cognit 28:1406-18