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Domain-general mechanisms for speech segmentation: The role of duration information in language learning.

Rebecca L A Frost; Padraic Monaghan; Tomoko Tatsumi

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Title: Domain-general mechanisms for speech segmentation: The role of duration information in language learning.
Author: Rebecca L A Frost; Padraic Monaghan; Tomoko Tatsumi
Source: Journal of Experimental Psychology. Human Perception and Performance · DOI 10.1037/xhp0000325 Published 2016-11-28 · Open source record
License: CC BY 3.0 deed

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Abstract Speech segmentation is supported by multiple sources of information that may either inform language processing specifically, or serve learning more broadly. The Iambic/Trochaic Law (ITL), where increased duration indicates the end of a group and increased emphasis indicates the beginning of a group, has been proposed as a domain-general mechanism that also applies to language. However, language background has been suggested to modulate use of the ITL, meaning that these perceptual grouping preferences may instead be a consequence of language exposure. To distinguish between these accounts, we exposed native-English and native-Japanese listeners to sequences of speech (Experiment 1) and nonspeech stimuli (Experiment 2), and examined segmentation using a 2AFC task. Duration was manipulated over 3 conditions: sequences contained either an initial-item duration increase, or a final-item duration increase, or items of uniform duration. In Experiment 1, language background did not affect the use of duration as a cue for segmenting speech in a structured artificial language. In Experiment 2, the same results were found for grouping structured sequences of visual shapes. The results are consistent with proposals that duration information draws upon a domain-general mechanism that can apply to the special case of language acquisition. Keywords: iambic/trochaic law, language acquisition, speech segmentation, transitional probabilities, visual sequences Public Significance Statement This study shows that adults prefer to group both sequences of shapes and sequences of speech with the final item as the one that has the longest duration. This suggests that final-item duration increase is a helpful cue for perceptual grouping in multiple domains—not just language processing. By testing native speakers of languages that use duration differently, we also show that this grouping preference does not arise from language experience.

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Original journal: Journal of Experimental Psychology. Human Perception and Performance
Published: 2016-11-28
DOI: 10.1037/xhp0000325
Open record: PMC5327892

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