Investigating the retention and time course of phonotactic constraint learning from production experience

Adults can rapidly learn artificial phonotactic constraints such as /f/ occurs only at the beginning of syllables by producing syllables that contain those constraints. This implicit learning is then reflected in their speech errors. However, second-order constraints in which the placement of a phoneme depends on another characteristic of the syllable (e.g., if the vowel is /æ/, /f/ occurs at the beginning of syllables and /s/ occurs at the end of syllables, but if the vowel is /I/, the reverse is true) require a longer learning period. Two experiments investigated the transience of second-order learning and whether consolidation plays a role in learning phonological dependencies, with speech errors used as a measure of learning. Experiment 1 tested the durability of learning and found that learning was still present in speech errors a week later. Experiment 2 looked at whether more time in the form of a consolidation period or more experience in the form of more trials was necessary for learning to be revealed in speech errors. Both consolidation and more trials led to learning; however, consolidation provided a more substantial benefit.