title: Domain-general mechanisms for speech segmentation: The role of duration information in language learning.
abstract: Speech segmentation is supported by multiple sources of information that may either inform language processing specifically, or serve learning more broadly. The Iambic/Trochaic Law (ITL), where increased duration indicates the end of a group and increased emphasis indicates the beginning of a group, has been proposed as a domain-general mechanism that also applies to language. However, language background has been suggested to modulate use of the ITL, meaning that these perceptual grouping preferences may instead be a consequence of language exposure. To distinguish between these accounts, we exposed native-English and native-Japanese listeners to sequences of speech (Experiment 1) and nonspeech stimuli (Experiment 2), and examined segmentation using a 2AFC task. Duration was manipulated over 3 conditions: sequences contained either an initial-item duration increase, or a final-item duration increase, or items of uniform duration. In Experiment 1, language background did not affect the use of duration as a cue for segmenting speech in a structured artificial language. In Experiment 2, the same results were found for grouping structured sequences of visual shapes. The results are consistent with proposals that duration information draws upon a domain-general mechanism that can apply to the special case of language acquisition. (PsycINFO Database Record
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology.
authors.forename: Rebecca L A
authors.initials: RL
authors.lastname: Frost
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology.
authors.forename: Padraic
authors.identifier: 0000-0003-3965-2682
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Monaghan
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology, University of Liverpool.
authors.forename: Tomoko
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Tatsumi
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007858:Learning / Q000502:physiology*; D008297:Male; D011578:Psycholinguistics; D013067:Speech Perception / Q000502:physiology*; D013997:Time Factors; D014796:Visual Perception / Q000502:physiology*; D055815:Young Adult