Attention modulates perceptual learning of non-native-accented speech

Area of Science:

• Psycholinguistics
• Auditory Perception
• Speech Processing

Background:

• Listeners adapt to variations in non-native accented speech.
• Disambiguating talker-specific from accent-based variation is key to speech perception.

Purpose of the Study:

• Investigate which linguistic and indexical features aid learning in accented speech.
• Determine if attention to these features impacts generalization to novel utterances and voices.

Main Methods:

• Two experiments exposed listeners to Spanish-accented English sentences or words.
• Listener attention was directed to lexical content, indexical cues, or both.
• Tested generalization of perceptual learning to new utterances and talkers.

Main Results:

• Experiment 1 showed generalized learning across all attention conditions for sentences.
• Experiment 2 demonstrated generalized learning only when attention included both transcription and talker identification.
• Attention to both linguistic and indexical cues optimizes distinguishing talker- and group-based variation.

Conclusions:

• Attentional processes are crucial for encoding speech input.
• Indexical and lexical characteristics of speech are interdependent in spoken language processing.
• Task-driven attention enhances the ability to adapt to non-native accents.