The prosodic accent advantage in phoneme detection: Importance of local context

Previous research (e.g., Cutler, Perception & Psychophysics, 20, 55-60, 1976) has shown that detection of the initial phoneme of a word is speeded when the word is pronounced with a focal accent. This "accent advantage" is also observed when the accented word is replaced by a neutrally accented one. The present two experiments were designed to identify what aspect of the context preceding the target word is the source of this advantage. Both indicated that the advantage can be ascribed to the syllable immediately preceding the target word, rather than some possibly global but more distal attribute of the context. The first experiment used the recordings that had been used by Cutler Perception & Psychophysics, 20, 55-60, (1976) with the addition of a between-subjects manipulation of the local context. In one condition, the syllable immediately before the target word was the one that had been recorded in the sentence context (preceding an accented or an unaccented target word). In the other, cross-spliced, condition, the preceding syllable was exchanged between accented and unaccented contexts. The second (pre-registered) experiment used new recordings and a within-subject manipulation of the pre-target syllable. The studies confirmed and extended the observation that the pre-target syllable rather than some other prosodic aspect of the preceding context is the source of the faster phoneme detections.