title: Perceptual representations of phonotactically illegal syllables.
abstract: Listeners often categorize phonotactically illegal sequences (e.g., /dla/ in English) as phonemically similar legal ones (e.g., /gla/). In an earlier investigation of such an effect in Japanese, Dehaene-Lambertz, Dupoux, and Gout (2000) did not observe a mismatch negativity in response to deviant, illegal sequences, and therefore argued that phonotactics constrain early perceptual processing. In the present study, using a priming paradigm, we compared the event-related potentials elicited by Legal targets (e.g., /gla/) preceded by (1) phonemically distinct Control primes (e.g., /kla/), (2) different tokens of Identity primes (e.g., /gla/), and (3) phonotactically Illegal Test primes (e.g., /dla/). Targets elicited a larger positivity 200-350 ms after onset when preceded by Illegal Test primes or phonemically distinct Control primes, as compared to Identity primes. Later portions of the waveforms (350-600 ms) did not differ for targets preceded by Identity and Illegal Test primes, and the similarity ratings also did not differ in these conditions. These data support a model of speech perception in which veridical representations of phoneme sequences are not only generated during processing, but also are maintained in a manner that affects perceptual processing of subsequent speech sounds.
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology and Education, Mount Holyoke College, South Hadley, MA, 01075, USA. mbreen@mtholyoke.edu
authors.forename: Mara
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Breen
authors.forename: John
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Kingston
authors.forename: Lisa D
authors.initials: LD
authors.lastname: Sanders
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D001307:Auditory Perception; D004056:Differential Threshold; D004569:Electroencephalography; D005071:Evoked Potentials / Q000502:physiology; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007802:Language; D016015:Logistic Models; D008297:Male; D008960:Models, Psychological; D046709:Pattern Recognition, Physiological / Q000502:physiology*; D010699:Phonation; D010700:Phonetics; D013067:Speech Perception / Q000502:physiology*; D055815:Young Adult