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Neurophysiologic correlates of cross-language phonetic perception
1Department of Speech and Hearing Science, Arizona State University, Tempe 85287-0102, USA. anu.sharma@asu.edu
The Journal of the Acoustical Society of America
|June 1, 2000
Summary
Native language shapes speech perception. Hindi listeners distinguished native sounds, while English listeners did not, showing language experience alters auditory processing and brain responses like the mismatch negativity (MMN).
Area of Science:
- Linguistics
- Neuroscience
- Auditory Perception
Background:
- Native language experience significantly influences how individuals perceive and process speech sounds.
- Phonetic categories that are relevant in one language may not be distinguished by speakers of another language.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate the neurophysiologic differences in processing native versus nonnative phonetic categories.
- To examine how linguistic experience affects behavioral and electrophysiologic responses to speech stimuli.
Main Methods:
- Behavioral identification and discrimination tasks were used with Hindi and English listeners.
- Electrophysiologic recordings measured cortical evoked potentials, specifically N1 and mismatch negativity (MMN).
- Stimuli varied in voice onset time (VOT), ranging from -90 to 0 ms, representing distinct Hindi phonetic categories.
Main Results:
- Hindi listeners identified stimuli into two categories (/ba/, /pa/) and discriminated across categories, unlike English listeners who performed at chance level.
- N1 latency did not differ significantly between Hindi and English listeners, indicating similar early sensory processing.
- A robust mismatch negativity (MMN) was observed in Hindi listeners but not in English listeners when presented with the /ba/-/pa/ contrast.
Conclusions:
- Linguistic experience differentially modulates neurophysiologic processing of speech sounds, particularly at the level reflected by MMN.
- The mismatch negativity (MMN) serves as a sensitive index of how the brain processes phonemic contrasts relevant to one's native language.