Abstract
This three-part study demonstrates that perceptual order can influence the integration of acoustic speech cues. In Experiment 1, the subjects labeled the [s] and [∫] in natural FV and VF syllables in which the frication was replaced with synthetic stimuli. Responses to these “hybrid” stimuli were influenced by cues in the vocalic segment as well as by the synthetic frication. However, the influence of the preceding vocalic cues was considerably weaker than was that of the following vocalic cues. Experiment 2 examined the acoustic bases for this asymmetry and consisted of analyses revealing that FV and VF syllables are similar in terms of the acoustic structures thought to underlie the vocalic context effects. Experiment 3 examined the perceptual bases for the asymmetry. A subset of the hybrid FV and VF stimuli were presented inreverse, such that the acoustic and perceptual bases for the asymmetry were pitted against each other in the listening task. The perceptual bases (i.e., the perceived order of the frication and vocalic cues) proved to be the determining factor. Current auditory processing models, such as backward recognition masking, preperceptual auditory storage, or models based on linguistic factors, do not adequately account for the observed asymmetries.
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This research was supported in part by NICHD Grant HD0l994 to Haskins Laboratories, by a grant to the second author from the Computer Science Center, University of Maryland, and by funding from the University of California, Irvine. Early portions of this research were reported at the 103rd and 105th meetings of the Acoustical Society of America in Chicago, May 1982, and in Cincinnati, May 1983.
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Mann, V., Soli, S.D. Perceptual order and the effect of vocalic context on fricative perception. Perception & Psychophysics 49, 399–411 (1991). https://doi.org/10.3758/BF03212174
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.3758/BF03212174