Training to use voice onset time as a cue to talker identification induces a left-ear/right-hemisphere processing advantage.
We examined the effect of perceptual training on a well-established hemispheric asymmetry in speech processing. Eighteen listeners were trained to use a within-category difference in voice onset time (VOT) to cue talker identity. Successful learners (n=8) showed faster response times for stimuli presented only to the left ear than for those presented only to the right. The development of a left-ear/right-hemisphere advantage for processing a prototypically phonetic cue supports a model of speech perception in which lateralization is driven by functional demands (talker identification vs. phonetic categorization) rather than by acoustic stimulus properties alone.
Francis
Alexander L
AL
Department of Speech, Language and Hearing Sciences, Purdue University, 1353 Heavilon Hall, 500 Oval Drive, West Lafayette, IN 47907, USA. francisa@purdue.edu
Driscoll
Courtney
C
D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D001921:Brain / Q000502:physiology*; D003463:Cues; D004192:Discrimination, Psychological; D005260:Female; D007839:Functional Laterality / Q000502:physiology*; D006309:Hearing / Q000502:physiology*; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D010699:Phonation; D011930:Reaction Time; D021641:Recognition, Psychology; D013067:Speech Perception; D014834:Voice Training