title: Sleep underpins the plasticity of language production.
abstract: The constraints that govern acceptable phoneme combinations in speech perception and production have considerable plasticity. We addressed whether sleep influences the acquisition of new constraints and their integration into the speech-production system. Participants repeated sequences of syllables in which two phonemes were artificially restricted to syllable onset or syllable coda, depending on the vowel in that sequence. After 48 sequences, participants either had a 90-min nap or remained awake. Participants then repeated 96 sequences so implicit constraint learning could be examined, and then were tested for constraint generalization in a forced-choice task. The sleep group, but not the wake group, produced speech errors at test that were consistent with restrictions on the placement of phonemes in training. Furthermore, only the sleep group generalized their learning to new materials. Polysomnography data showed that implicit constraint learning was associated with slow-wave sleep. These results show that sleep facilitates the integration of new linguistic knowledge with existing production constraints. These data have relevance for systems-consolidation models of sleep.
authors.affiliation: University of York gareth.gaskell@york.ac.uk.
authors.forename: M Gareth
authors.initials: MG
authors.lastname: Gaskell
authors.affiliation: University of Scranton.
authors.forename: Jill
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Warker
authors.affiliation: University of York.
authors.forename: Shane
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Lindsay
authors.affiliation: University of York.
authors.forename: Rebecca
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Frost
authors.affiliation: University of York.
authors.forename: James
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Guest
authors.affiliation: University of York.
authors.forename: Reza
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Snowdon
authors.affiliation: University of York.
authors.forename: Abigail
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Stackhouse
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D010700:Phonetics; D017286:Polysomnography; D011578:Psycholinguistics; D012890:Sleep; D013067:Speech Perception; D014706:Verbal Learning; D055815:Young Adult
keywords: learning; open data; open materials; phonotactic constraints; plasticity; production; sleep; slow-wave sleep; speech errors