Doctoral Dissertation Research: Learning of Novel Phonetic Categories After Training in Perception and Production

博士论文研究：感知和生产训练后新语音类别的学习

• 批准号: 0951943
• 负责人: Matthew Goldrick
• 金额: $ 0.69万
• 依托单位: Northwestern University
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2010
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2010-02-01 至 2011-01-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=0951943&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: Doctoral; Dissertation; Research; Learning; Novel

Humans possess a remarkable ability to produce and understand speech. In order to successfully learn a language, an individual must learn what the sound categories in a particular language are and what makes various sounds different from one another. For instance, "r" and "l" belong to different sound categories in English, but not in some other languages. Learning how to differentiate between these sounds and produce them is an important part of learning a language. Currently much is known about how listeners learn to perceive the speech sound categories; however, significantly less is known about how speakers learn about speech categories in production and how learning in one modality (i.e., perception or production) is related to learning in the other modality. The relationship between perception and production could take many forms. Learning in one modality could always lead learning in the other (i.e., an individual would have to be able to perceive a distinction before they could produce it). Category formation could occur in parallel for both modalities (i.e., both perception and production could learn about new sounds simultaneously). Alternately, learning in one modality could actually hinder learning in another modality (e.g., learning in speech production could disrupt learning in speech perception). This study aims to differentiate among these hypotheses. The experiments in this study are designed to train participants on novel sound categories with the training focusing on either perception or production. Then participants are tested in both perception and production. Untangling how new sound categories are formed and accessed in the two modalities will give insight not only into the learning process of new sound categories but also into how the two modalities are related. The findings of this study will be significant in both theoretical and applied domains. Having a better understanding of how categories are formed will help inform theories of learning for both first- and second-language learners. Understanding how speech perception and production are related will be informative in the development of models of speech processing in both perception and production. In the applied domain, understanding how perception and production interface, particularly at the level of sound categories, will be beneficial for second-language teachers. Furthermore, clinicians, such as speech-language pathologists, will benefit from a better understanding of how the two modalities interact when learning (or re-learning) novel sound categories. For instance, if patients have an impairment in speech production, they may be able to use their intact perceptual abilities to re-train the impaired modality.

人类具有出色的产生和理解言语的能力。 为了成功学习一种语言，个人必须学习特定语言的声音类别，以及使各种声音彼此不同的原因。 例如，“ R”和“ L”属于英语中的不同声音类别，但在其他一些语言中不属于。 学习如何区分这些声音并产生它们是学习语言的重要组成部分。目前，关于听众如何学习语音类别的知识知之甚少。但是，对于说话者如何学习生产中的语音类别以及一种方式（即感知或生产）如何与其他模式的学习有关的学习方式，了解的是明显少得多。 感知与生产之间的关系可能有多种形式。 一种以一种方式学习总是可以带领另一个学习（即，一个人必须能够在产生它之前就可以看出一个区别）。 对于两种模态，类别形成都可以并行（即，感知和生产都可以同时了解新声音）。 或者，以一种方式学习实际上可能会阻碍另一种方式学习（例如，语音生产中的学习可能破坏语音感知中的学习）。 这项研究的目的是在这些假设之间进行区分。这项研究的实验旨在培训新型声音类别的参与者，培训的重点是感知或产生。 然后，参与者在感知和产生中都进行了测试。 解开两种模式中如何形成和访问新的声音类别的方式，不仅会洞悉新声音类别的学习过程，而且还可以使两种方式相关。这项研究的发现在理论和应用领域都将很重要。 更好地了解如何形成类别将有助于为第一和第二语言学习者提供学习理论。 了解语音感知和生产如何相关的方式将在感知和生产中的语音处理模型的发展中提供信息。 在应用领域中，了解感知和生产界面如何，尤其是在声音类别的水平上，将对第二语言教师有益。 此外，诸如语音语言病理学家之类的临床医生将从学习（或重新学习）新颖的声音类别时如何更好地理解两种方式相互作用。 例如，如果患者在语音产生方面受到损害，他们可能能够利用自己的感知能力来重新培训受损的方式。