This project is a continuation of a collaborative research program to understand general auditory categorization as it relates to speech perception. Language learners form (phonetic) auditory categoriesof native-language sounds from the distributions of experienced speech sounds produced by many talkers. However, these averaged categories may not be relevant to the speech produced by a specific talker. For example, non-native speech may not adhere to the normal patterns of native speakers. The project described in this application examines the ability of humans to """"""""tune"""""""" auditory categories to characteristicsof the particular listening situation. Speech from non-native and native speakers of English will be analyzed to determine differences in the distributions of sounds that may affect perception. These productions will be presented to listeners (sometimes in manipulated forms) as precursors to a categorization task. The degree to which speech sound categorization is affected by talker-specific information will be ascertained. Two possible mechanisms underlying this ability will be examined. In one set of experiments, speech sounds will be preceded by non-speech precursors. These precursors retain some of the acoustic structure of the speech precursor sentences but none of the linguistic/phonetic content. Shifts in the categorization of the speech sounds will indictate that the auditory system tunes categories to the acoustic makeup of the surrounding context sounds. In another series of experiments, listeners will be trained to categorize distributions of complex non-speech sounds. After training, distributions regularities will change. The ability of listeners to track these changes and maintain optimal performance will be examined. The results will indicate the sensitivity of listeners to changes in the distributional characteristics of sound categories. Taken together, these experiments will provide insight into the ability of listeners to accommodate perturbations of normal native speech productions and, more generally, inform theories of auditory categorization.

Agency
National Institute of Health (NIH)
Institute
National Institute on Deafness and Other Communication Disorders (NIDCD)
Type
Research Project (R01)
Project #
3R01DC004674-06S1
Application #
7534755
Study Section
Cognition and Perception Study Section (CP)
Program Officer
Shekim, Lana O
Project Start
2001-09-01
Project End
2010-11-30
Budget Start
2007-12-01
Budget End
2008-11-30
Support Year
6
Fiscal Year
2008
Total Cost
$40,031
Indirect Cost
Name
Carnegie-Mellon University
Department
Psychology
Type
Schools of Arts and Sciences
DUNS #
052184116
City
Pittsburgh
State
PA
Country
United States
Zip Code
15213
Holt, Lori L; Tierney, Adam T; Guerra, Giada et al. (2018) Dimension-selective attention as a possible driver of dynamic, context-dependent re-weighting in speech processing. Hear Res 366:50-64
Gabay, Yafit; Holt, Lori L (2018) Short-term adaptation to sound statistics is unimpaired in developmental dyslexia. PLoS One 13:e0198146
Roark, Casey L; Holt, Lori L (2018) Task and distribution sampling affect auditory category learning. Atten Percept Psychophys 80:1804-1822
Zhang, Xujin; Holt, Lori L (2018) Simultaneous tracking of coevolving distributional regularities in speech. J Exp Psychol Hum Percept Perform 44:1760-1779
Lehet, Matthew; Holt, Lori L (2017) Dimension-Based Statistical Learning Affects Both Speech Perception and Production. Cogn Sci 41 Suppl 4:885-912
Guediche, Sara; Fiez, Julie A; Holt, Lori L (2016) Adaptive plasticity in speech perception: Effects of external information and internal predictions. J Exp Psychol Hum Percept Perform 42:1048-59
Schertz, Jessamyn; Cho, Taehong; Lotto, Andrew et al. (2016) Individual differences in perceptual adaptability of foreign sound categories. Atten Percept Psychophys 78:355-67
Schertz, Jessamyn; Cho, Taehong; Lotto, Andrew et al. (2015) Individual differences in phonetic cue use in production and perception of a non-native sound contrast. J Phon 52:183-204
Guediche, Sara; Holt, Lori L; Laurent, Patryk et al. (2015) Evidence for Cerebellar Contributions to Adaptive Plasticity in Speech Perception. Cereb Cortex 25:1867-77
Gabay, Yafit; Holt, Lori L (2015) Incidental learning of sound categories is impaired in developmental dyslexia. Cortex 73:131-43

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