Human listeners are able to learn to recognize unfamiliar phonetic contrasts in the course of learning to understand foreign languages, in learning to use a cochlear implant, and in learning to better understand an unfamiliar talker or computer speech synthesizer. However, little is yet known about the cognitive mechanisms that form the basis of such perceptual learning of speech sounds. One frequently used conceptualizing of phonetic learning is based on the redistribution of selective attention between acoustic features in the speech signal. Distributing more attention to those cues that are highly diagnostic, and withdrawing attention from unreliable or misleading cue, should improve categorization accuracy and response time. In this way, training may also serve to develop new, more diagnostic perceptual features, improving the effectiveness of limited cognitive resources such as working memory. Four experiments will be conducted using a combination of speeded classification with conflicting cue stimuli and Garner interference tasks to investigate: (A) how identification training can induce listeners to ignore a previously attended cue (experiment 1) and to attend to a previously unattended cue (experiment 2); and (B) to determine the degree and manner to which these two kinds of changes in the distribution of selective attention each affect the allocation of working memory resources (experiments 3 and 4). This research will provide new basic data related to understanding the cognitive mechanisms that underlie human speech recognition. These results will also have implications for more clinically oriented studies investigating the re-acquisition of speech perception following cochlear implantation; the role of attention and working memory factors in specific language impairment (SLI), dyslexia, and normal aging; and for understanding the relationship between mechanisms of first and second language learning.

Agency
National Institute of Health (NIH)
Institute
National Institute on Deafness and Other Communication Disorders (NIDCD)
Type
Small Research Grants (R03)
Project #
1R03DC006811-01
Application #
6795155
Study Section
Special Emphasis Panel (ZDC1-SRB-O (23))
Program Officer
Shekim, Lana O
Project Start
2004-06-01
Project End
2007-05-31
Budget Start
2004-06-01
Budget End
2005-05-31
Support Year
1
Fiscal Year
2004
Total Cost
$73,149
Indirect Cost
Name
Purdue University
Department
Other Health Professions
Type
Schools of Arts and Sciences
DUNS #
072051394
City
West Lafayette
State
IN
Country
United States
Zip Code
47907
Francis, Alexander L (2010) Improved segregation of simultaneous talkers differentially affects perceptual and cognitive capacity demands for recognizing speech in competing speech. Atten Percept Psychophys 72:501-16
Kondaurova, Maria V; Francis, Alexander L (2010) The role of selective attention in the acquisition of English tense and lax vowels by native Spanish listeners: comparison of three training methods. J Phon 38:569-587
Francis, Alexander L; Nusbaum, Howard C (2009) Effects of intelligibility on working memory demand for speech perception. Atten Percept Psychophys 71:1360-74
Kondaurova, Maria V; Francis, Alexander L (2008) The relationship between native allophonic experience with vowel duration and perception of the English tense/lax vowel contrast by Spanish and Russian listeners. J Acoust Soc Am 124:3959
Zhang, Yanhong; Nissen, Shawn L; Francis, Alexander L (2008) Acoustic characteristics of English lexical stress produced by native Mandarin speakers. J Acoust Soc Am 123:4498-513
Francis, Alexander L; Kaganovich, Natalya; Driscoll-Huber, Courtney (2008) Cue-specific effects of categorization training on the relative weighting of acoustic cues to consonant voicing in English. J Acoust Soc Am 124:1234-51
Francis, Alexander L; Nusbaum, Howard C; Fenn, Kimberly (2007) Effects of training on the acoustic phonetic representation of synthetic speech. J Speech Lang Hear Res 50:1445-65
Kaganovich, Natalya; Francis, Alexander L; Melara, Robert D (2006) Electrophysiological evidence for early interaction between talker and linguistic information during speech perception. Brain Res 1114:161-72