Back to Search
Start Over
Limits on the limitations of context-conditioned effects in the perception of [b] and [w].
- Source :
-
Perception & psychophysics [Percept Psychophys] 1993 Aug; Vol. 54 (2), pp. 205-10. - Publication Year :
- 1993
-
Abstract
- We investigated the conditions under which the [b]-[w] contrast is processed in a context-dependent manner, specifically in relation to syllable duration. In an earlier paper, Miller and Liberman (1979) demonstrated that when listeners use transition duration to differentiate [b] from [w], they treat it in relation to the duration of the syllable: As syllables from a [ba]-[wa] series varying in transition duration become longer, so, too, does the transition duration at the [b]-[w] perceptual boundary. In a subsequent paper, Shinn, Blumstein, and Jongman (1985) questioned the generality of this finding by showing that the effect of syllable duration is eliminated for [ba]-[wa] stimuli that are less schematic than those used by Miller and Liberman. In the present investigation, we demonstrated that when these "more natural" stimuli are presented in a multi-talker babble noise instead of in quiet (as was done by Shinn et al.), the syllable-duration effect emerges. Our findings suggest that the syllable-duration effect in particular, and context effects in general, may play a more important role in speech perception than Shinn et al. suggested.
- Subjects :
- Adult
Female
Humans
Male
Psychoacoustics
Semantics
Attention
Phonetics
Speech Perception
Subjects
Details
- Language :
- English
- ISSN :
- 0031-5117
- Volume :
- 54
- Issue :
- 2
- Database :
- MEDLINE
- Journal :
- Perception & psychophysics
- Publication Type :
- Academic Journal
- Accession number :
- 8361836
- Full Text :
- https://doi.org/10.3758/bf03211757