Voice processing ability predicts second-language phoneme learning in early bilingual adults

• Cordero, Gaël ^[1] ; Paredes-Paredes, Jazmin R. ^[1] ; Perea, Manuel ^[2] ; Sebastian-Galles, Nuria ^[3] ; Díaz, Begoña ^[1]
  1. [1] Universitat Internacional de Catalunya

     Universitat Internacional de Catalunya

     Barcelona, España

     
  2. [2] Universitat de València

     Universitat de València

     Valencia, España

     
  3. [3] Universitat Pompeu Fabra

     Universitat Pompeu Fabra

     Barcelona, España

     

  Mostrar afiliaciones +
• Localización: Bilingualism: Language and cognition, ISSN 1366-7289, Vol. 28, Nº 5, 2025, págs. 1209-1226
• Idioma: inglés
• DOI: 10.1017/s136672892400110x
• Texto completo no disponible (Saber más ...)
• Resumen

  • Individuals differ greatly in their ability to learn the sounds of second languages, even when learning starts early in life. Recent research has suggested that the ability to identify the idiosyncratic acoustic variations introduced into the speech stream by the speaker might be relevant for second-language (L2) phoneme learning. However, only a positive correlation between voice recognition and phoneme learning has been shown. In the present study, we investigated whether voice processing ability predicts L2 phoneme learning. We employed a battery of behavioral cognitive ability measures to assess voice processing ability and L2 phoneme learning in 57 early bilingual adults. Confirmatory factor analyses (CFAs) and structural equation modeling (SEM) revealed that voice processing ability predicts L2 phoneme learning. Our findings align with theories of speech perception that attribute a fundamental role to the analysis of voice cues and suggest that the accurate identification of speaker-specific variation is also relevant for phoneme learning.

• Referencias bibliográficas
  • Aglieri, V., Watson, R., Pernet, C., Latinus, M., Garrido, L., & Belin, P. (2017). The Glasgow voice memory test: Assessing the ability...
  • Akaike, H. (1998). Information theory and an extension of the maximum likelihood principle. In Parzen, E., Tanabe, K., & Kitagawa, G....
  • Archila-Suerte, P., Bunta, F., & Hernandez, A. E. (2016). Speech sound learning depends on individuals’ ability, not just experience....
  • Bachorowski, J.-A., & Owren, M. J. (2001). Not all laughs are alike: Voiced but not unvoiced laughter readily elicits positive affect....
  • Bachorowski, J.-A., Smoski, M. J., & Owren, M. J. (2001). The acoustic features of human laughter. The Journal of the Acoustical Society...
  • Baumann, O., & Belin, P. (2010). Perceptual scaling of voice identity: Common dimensions for different vowels and speakers. Psychological...
  • Belin, P., Fillion-Bilodeau, S., & Gosselin, F. (2008). The Montreal affective voices: A validated set of nonverbal affect bursts for...
  • Bentler, P. M., & Chou, C.-P. (1987). Practical issues in structural modeling. Sociological Methods & Research, 16, 78–117. https://doi.org/10.1177/0049124187016001004
  • Best, C. T. (1994). The emergence of native-language phonological in fluences in infants: A perceptual assimilation model. In Good man, J....
  • Best, C. T., & Tyler, M. D. (2007). Nonnative and second-language speech perception: Commonalities and complementarities. In Bohn, O.-S....
  • Bonte, M., Hausfeld, L., Scharke, W., Valente, G., & Formisano, E. (2014). Task-dependent decoding of speaker and vowel identity from...
  • Bosch, L., Costa, A., & Sebastian-Galles, N. (2000). First and second language vowel perception in early bilinguals. European Journal...
  • Bradlow, A. R., & Pisoni, D. B. (1999). Recognition of spoken words by native and non-native listeners: Talker-, listener-, and item-related...
  • Bradlow, A. R., Pisoni, D. B., Akahane-Yamada, R., & Tohkura, Y. (1997). Training Japanese listeners to identify English / r / and / l...
  • Brainard, D. H. (1997). The Psychophysics Toolbox. Spat Vis, 10, 433–6. PMID: 9176952.
  • Brekelmans, G., Lavan, N., Saito, H., Clayards, M., & Wonnacott, E. (2022). Does high variability training improve the learning of non-native...
  • Brown, T. A. (2015). Confirmatory factor analysis for applied research. (2nd ed.). Guilford Publications.
  • Caramazza, A., Yeni-Komshian, G. H., Zurif, E. B., & Carbone, E. (1973). The acquisition of a new phonological contrast: The case of stop...
  • Chandrasekaran, B., Chan, A. H. D., & Wong, P. C. M. (2011). Neural processing of what and who information in speech. Journal of Cognitive...
  • Chandrasekaran, B., Hornickel, J., Skoe, E., Nicol, T., & Kraus, N. (2009). Context-dependent encoding in the human auditory brainstem...
  • Choi, J. Y., Hu, E. R., & Perrachione, T. K. (2018). Varying acoustic-phonemic ambiguity reveals that talker normalization is obligatory...
  • Darwin, C. J., Denis McKeown, J., & Kirby, D. (1989). Perceptual compensation for transmission channel and speaker effects on vowel quality....
  • DeKeyser, R. M. (2000). The robustness of critical period effects in second language acquisition. Studies in Second Language Acquisition,...
  • Deng, Z., Chandrasekaran, B., Wang, S., & Wong, P. C. M. (2018). Training-induced brain activation and functional connectivity differentiate...
  • Díaz, B., Baus, C., Escera, C., Costa, A., & Sebastian-Galles, N. (2008). Brain potentials to native phoneme discrimination reveal the...
  • Díaz, B., Cordero, G., Hoogendoorn, J., & Sebastian-Galles, N. (2022). Second-language phoneme learning positively relates to voice recognition...
  • Díaz, B., Mitterer, H., Broersma, M., Escera, C., & Sebastian-Galles, N. (2016). Variability in L2 phonemic learning originates from speech-specific...
  • Díaz, B., Mitterer, H., Broersma, M., & Sebastian-Galles, N. (2012). Individual differences in late bilinguals’ L2 phonological processes:...
  • Drozdova, P., van Hout, R., & Scharenborg, O. (2019). Talker-familiarity benefit in non-native recognition memory and word identification:...
  • Escudero, P. (2009). The linguistic perception of SIMILAR L2 sounds. In Boersma, P. & Hamann, S. (Eds.), Phonology in perception (pp....
  • Fecher, N., & Johnson, E. K. (2019). Bilingual infants excel at foreign-language talker recognition. Developmental Science, 22, e12778....
  • Fecher, N., & Johnson, E. K. (2022). Revisiting the talker recognition advantage in bilingual infants. Journal of Experimental Child Psychology,...
  • Flege, J. E. (1995). Second language speech learning: Theory, findings and problems. In Strange, W. (Ed.), Speech perception and linguistic...
  • Formisano, E., De Martino, F., Bonte, M., & Goebel, R. (2008). «Who» is saying «what»? Brain-based decoding of human voice and speech....
  • Fox, R. A., Flege, J. E., & Munro, M. J. (1995). The perception of English and Spanish vowels by native English and Spanish listeners:...
  • Ghazanfar, A. A., & Rendall, D. (2008). Evolution of human vocal production. Current Biology, 18, R457–R460. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cub.2008.03.030
  • Goldinger, S. D. (1998). Echoes of echoes? An episodic theory of lexical access. Psychological Review, 105, 251–279. https://doi.org/10.1037/0033-295X.105.2.251
  • Hancock, G. R., & Mueller, R. O. (Eds.). (2013). Structural equation modeling: A second course (2nd ed). Information Age Publishing, Inc.
  • Hartshorne, J. K., Tenenbaum, J. B., & Pinker, S. (2018). A critical period for second language acquisition: Evidence from 2/3 million...
  • Holmes, E., & Johnsrude, I. S. (2021). Speech-evoked brain activity is more robust to competing speech when it is spoken by someone familiar....
  • Houston, D. M., & Jusczyk, P. W. (2000). The role of talker-specific information in word segmentation by infants. Journal of Experimental...
  • Hu, L., & Bentler, P. M. (1999). Cutoff criteria for fit indexes in covariance structure analysis: Conventional criteria versus new alternatives....
  • Humble, D., Schweinberger, S. R., Dobel, C., & Zäske, R. (2019). Voices to remember: Comparing neural signatures of intentional and non-intentional...
  • Iverson, P., Hazan, V., & Bannister, K. (2005). Phonetic training with acoustic cue manipulations: A comparison of methods for teaching...
  • Johnson, K., & Sjerps, M. J. (2021). Speaker normalization in speech perception. In Pardo, J.S., Nygaard, L.C., Remez, R.E. and Pisoni,...
  • Johnsrude, I. S., Mackey, A., Hakyemez, H., Alexander, E., Trang, H. P., & Carlyon, R. P. (2013). Swinging at a cocktail party. Psychological...
  • Kaganovich, N., Kim, J., Herring, C., Schumaker, J., MacPherson, M., & Weber-Fox, C. (2013). Musicians show general enhancement of complex...
  • Kenny, D. A., Kaniskan, B., & McCoach, D. B. (2015). The performance of RMSEA in models with small degrees of freedom. Sociological Methods...
  • Kitamura, T., & Akagi, M. (1995). Speaker individualities in speech spectral envelopes. Journal of the Acoustical Society of Japan (E),...
  • Klatt, D. H. (1979). Speech perception: A model of acoustic–phonetic analysis and lexical access. Journal of Phonetics, 7, 279–312. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0095-4470(19)31059-9
  • Kleinschmidt, D. F., & Jaeger, T. F. (2015). Robust speech perception: Recognize the familiar, generalize to the similar, and adapt to...
  • Kline, R. B. (2015). Principles and practice of structural equation modeling. (4th ed.). Guilford publications.
  • Kreitewolf, J., Friederici, A. D., & von Kriegstein, K. (2014). Hemispheric lateralization of linguistic prosody recognition in comparison...
  • Krumbiegel, J., Ufer, C., & Blank, H. (2022). Influence of voice properties on vowel perception depends on speaker context. The Journal...
  • Ladefoged, P., & Broadbent, D. E. (1957). Information conveyed by vowels. The Journal of the Acoustical Society of America, 29, 98–104....
  • Latinus, M., & Belin, P. (2011). Human voice perception. Current Biology, 21, R143–R145. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cub.2010.12.033
  • Lavan, N., Burston, L. F. K., & Garrido, L. (2019a). How many voices did you hear? Natural variability disrupts identity perception from...
  • Lavan, N., Burton, A. M., Scott, S. K., & McGettigan, C. (2019b). Flexible voices: Identity perception from variable vocal signals. Psychonomic...
  • Lavan, N., Scott, S. K., & McGettigan, C. (2016). Laugh like you mean it: Authenticity modulates acoustic, physiological and perceptual...
  • Lee, J. J., & Perrachione, T. K. (2022). Implicit and explicit learning in talker identification. Attention, Perception, & Psychophysics,...
  • Levi, S. V. (2019). Methodological considerations for interpreting the language familiarity effect in talker processing. Wiley Interdisciplinary...
  • Lively, S. E., Logan, J. S., & Pisoni, D. B. (1993). Training Japanese listeners to identify English /r/ and /l/. II: The role of phonetic...
  • Lively, S. E., Pisoni, D. B., Yamada, R. A., Tohkura, Y., & Yamada, T. (1994). Training Japanese listeners to identify English /r/ and...
  • Logan, J. S., Lively, S. E., & Pisoni, D. B. (1991). Training Japanese listeners to identify English /r/ and /l/: A first report. The...
  • Luthra, S., Magnuson, J. S., & Myers, E. B. (2023). Right posterior temporal cortex supports integration of phonetic and talker information....
  • Magnuson, J. S., Nusbaum, H. C., Akahane-Yamada, R., & Saltzman, D. (2021). Talker familiarity and the accommodation of talker variability....
  • McMurray, B., & Jongman, A. (2011). What information is necessary for speech categorization? Harnessing variability in the speech signal...
  • McNicol, D. (2005). A primer of signal detection theory. Psychology Press.
  • Miller, J. L., Aibel, I. L., & Green, K. (1984). On the nature of rate-dependent processing during phonetic perception. Perception &...
  • Mühl, C., Sheil, O., Jarutytė, L., & Bestelmeyer, P. E. G. (2018). The Bangor voice matching test: A standardized test for the assessment...
  • Myers, E. B., & Theodore, R. M. (2017). Voice-sensitive brain networks encode talker-specific phonetic detail. Brain and Language, 165,...
  • Nearey, T. M. (1989). Static, dynamic, and relational properties in vowel perception. The Journal of the Acoustical Society of America, 85,...
  • Newman, R. S., & Sawusch, J. R. (2009). Perceptual normalization for speaking rate III: Effects of the rate of one voice on perception...
  • Nusbaum, H. C., & Magnuson, J. S. (1997). Talker normalization: Phonetic constancy as a cognitive process. In Johnson, K. & Mullennix,...
  • Nygaard, L. C., & Pisoni, D. B. (1998). Talker-specific learning in speech perception. Perception & Psychophysics, 60, 355–376. https://doi.org/10.3758/BF03206860
  • Nygaard, L. C., Sommers, M. S., & Pisoni, D. B. (1994). Speech perception as a talker-contingent process. Psychological Science, 5, 42–46....
  • Nygaard, L. C., & Tzeng, C. Y. (2021). Perceptual integration of linguistic and non‐linguistic properties of speech. In Pardo, J.S., Nygaard,...
  • Pallier, C., Bosch, L., & Sebastian-Galles, N. (1997). A limit on behavioral plasticity in speech perception. Cognition, 64, B9–B17. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0010-0277(97)00030-9
  • Pallier, C., Colomé, A., & Sebastian-Galles, N. (2001). The influence of native-language phonology on lexical access: Exemplar-based versus...
  • Pelli, D. G. (1997). The VideoToolbox software for visual psychophysics: Transforming numbers into movies. Spatial Vision, 10, 437–442. https://doi.org/10.1163/156856897X00366
  • Perea, M., Jiménez, M., Suárez-Coalla, P., Fernández, N., Viña, C., & Cuetos, F. (2014). Ability for voice recognition is a marker for...
  • Perrachione, T. K., Del Tufo, S. N., & Gabrieli, J. D. E. (2011). Human voice recognition depends on language ability. Science, 333, 595–595....
  • Persson, A., & Jaeger, T. F. (2023). Evaluating normalization accounts against the dense vowel space of Central Swedish. Frontiers in...
  • Peterson, G. E., & Barney, H. L. (1952). Control methods used in a study of the vowels. The Journal of the Acoustical Society of America,...
  • R Core Team. (2019). R: A language and environment for statistical computing [Software]. https://www.r-project.org
  • Ramus, F. (2003). Developmental dyslexia: Specific phonological deficit or general sensorimotor dysfunction? Current Opinion in Neurobiology,...
  • Ratcliff, R., Smith, P. L., & McKoon, G. (2015a). Modeling regularities in response time and accuracy data with the diffusion model. Current...
  • Ratcliff, R., Thapar, A., & McKoon, G. (2010). Individual differences, aging, and IQ in two-choice tasks. Cognitive Psychology, 60, 127–157....
  • Ratcliff, R., Thompson, C. A., & McKoon, G. (2015b). Modeling individual differences in response time and accuracy in numeracy. Cognition,...
  • Reinisch, E., & Sjerps, M. J. (2013). The uptake of spectral and temporal cues in vowel perception is rapidly influenced by context. Journal...
  • RStudio Team. (2020). RStudio: Integrated development for R. RStudio [Software]. http://www.rstudio.com/.
  • Rutten, S., Santoro, R., Hervais-Adelman, A., Formisano, E., & Golestani, N. (2019). Cortical encoding of speech enhances task-relevant...
  • Sanders, B. P. (1994). Andalusian vocalism and related processes [Doctoral dissertation, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign]. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jaci.2012.05.050
  • Schall, S., Kiebel, S. J., Maess, B., & von Kriegstein, K. (2015). Voice identity recognition: Functional division of the right STS and...
  • Schmitz, J., Díaz, B., Fernández Rubio, K., & Sebastian-Galles, N. (2018). Exploring the relationship between speech perception and production...
  • Schumacker, R. E., & Lomax, R. G. (2010). A beginner’s guide to structural equation modeling (3rd ed). Routledge.
  • Schweinberger, S. R. (2001). Human brain potential correlates of voice priming and voice recognition. Neuropsychologia, 39, 921–936. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0028-3932(01)00023-9
  • Sebastian-Galles, N., & Baus, C. (2005). On the relationship between perception and production in L2 categories. In Cutler, A. (Ed.),...
  • Sebastian-Galles, N., & Díaz, B. (2012). First and second language speech perception: Graded learning. Language Learning, 62, 131–147....
  • Sebastian-Galles, N., Echeverría, S., & Bosch, L. (2005). The influence of initial exposure on lexical representation: Comparing early...
  • Sebastian-Galles, N., Rodríguez-Fornells, A., de Diego-Balaguer, R., & Díaz, B. (2006). First- and second-language phonological representations...
  • Sebastian-Galles, N., & Soto-Faraco, S. (1999). Online processing of native and non-native phonemic contrasts in early bilinguals. Cognition,...
  • Shi, D., DiStefano, C., Maydeu-Olivares, A., & Lee, T. (2022). Evaluating SEM model fit with small degrees of freedom. Multivariate Behavioral...
  • Sjerps, M. J., Fox, N. P., Johnson, K., & Chang, E. F. (2019). Speaker-normalized sound representations in the human auditory cortex....
  • Sjerps, M. J., McQueen, J. M., & Mitterer, H. (2013). Evidence for precategorical extrinsic vowel normalization. Attention, Perception,...
  • Sjerps, M. J., & Smiljanić, R. (2013). Compensation for vocal tract characteristics across native and non-native languages. Journal of...
  • Snodgrass, J. G., & Corwin, J. (1988). Pragmatics of measuring recognition memory: Applications to dementia and amnesia. Journal of Experimental...
  • Soper, D. S. (2023). A-priori sample size calculator for structural equation models [Software]. https://www.danielsoper.com/statcalc
  • Soriano, B. (2012). Andalusian vowel harmony and morphology-phonology interface. Anuario del Seminario de Filología Vasca «Julio de Urquijo»,...
  • Souza, P., Gehani, N., Wright, R., & McCloy, D. (2013). The advantage of knowing the talker. Journal of the American Academy of Audiology,...
  • Stanislaw, H., & Todorov, N. (1999). Calculation of signal detection theory measures. Behavior Research Methods, Instruments, & Computers,...
  • Sumner, M., Kim, S. K., King, E., & McGowan, K. B. (2014). The socially weighted encoding of spoken words: A dual-route approach to speech...
  • von Kriegstein, K., Smith, D. R. R., Patterson, R. D., Kiebel, S. J., & Griffiths, T. D. (2010). How the human brain recognizes speech...
  • Weatherholtz, K., & Jaeger, T. F. (2016). Speech perception and generalization across talkers and accents. In Weatherholtz, K. & Jaeger,...
  • Werker, J. F., & Hensch, T. K. (2015). Critical periods in speech perception: New directions. Annual Review of Psychology, 66, 173–196....
  • Wong, J. W. S. (2014). The effects of high and low variability phonetic training on the perception and production of English vowels /e/-/æ/...
  • Yang, J., & Fox, R. A. (2014). Perception of English vowels by bilingual Chinese–English and corresponding monolingual listeners. Language...
  • Ylinen, S., Uther, M., Latvala, A., Vepsäläinen, S., Iverson, P., Akahane-Yamada, R., & Näätänen, R. (2010). Training the brain to weight...
  • Yonan, C. A., & Sommers, M. S. (2000). The effects of talker familiarity on spoken word identification in younger and older listeners....
  • Yu, K., Zhou, Y., Zhang, L., Li, L., Li, P., & Wang, R. (2023). How different types of linguistic information impact voice perception:...
  • Zäske, R., Limbach, K., Schneider, D., Skuk, V. G., Dobel, C., Guntinas-Lichius, O., & Schweinberger, S. R. (2018). Electrophysiological...
  • Zäske, R., Volberg, G., Kovacs, G., & Schweinberger, S. R. (2014). Electrophysiological correlates of voice learning and recognition....
  • Zhang, C., & Chen, S. (2016). Toward an integrative model of talker normalization. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Human Perception...
  • Zhang, X., Cheng, B., & Zhang, Y. (2021). The role of talker variability in nonnative phonetic learning: A systematic review and meta-analysis....