Processing of phonemes in speech: a speed-accuracy study.
The present study investigated the serial or parallel processing of phenemes within a syllable. Subjects were required to press a key, on cue, to indicate whether two successive, binaural CVC syllables were the same or different. The cue was a tone which occurred at varying times after the onset of the second CVC and often interrupted its presentation. Subjects' accuracy as a function of time was compared for discriminations involving the first, second, and third phonemes. The results show that information about the phonemes within a CVC syllable is accruing simultaneously. The importance of these results for models of speech perception is discussed.
D001307:Auditory Perception; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D010700:Phonetics; D013060:Speech