title: Non-native Speech Learning in Older Adults.
abstract: Though there is an extensive literature investigating the ability of younger adults to learn non-native phonology, including investigations into individual differences in younger adults' lexical tone learning, very little is known about older adults' ability to learn non-native phonology, including lexical tone. There are several reasons to suspect that older adults would use different learning mechanisms when learning lexical tone than younger adults, including poorer perception of dynamic pitch, greater reliance on working memory capacity in second language learning, and poorer category learning in older adulthood. The present study examined the relationships among older adults' baseline sensitivity for pitch patterns, working memory capacity, and declarative memory capacity with their ability to learn to associate tone with lexical meaning. In older adults, baseline pitch pattern sensitivity was not associated with generalization performance. Rather, older adults' learning performance was best predicted by declarative memory capacity. These data suggest that training paradigms will need to be modified to optimize older adults' non-native speech sound learning success.
authors.affiliation: School of Communication Science and Disorders, Florida State University, TallahasseeFL, USA; Department of Otolaryngology - Head and Neck Surgery, Feinberg School of Medicine, Northwestern University, ChicagoIL, USA.
authors.forename: Erin M
authors.initials: EM
authors.lastname: Ingvalson
authors.affiliation: Department of Otolaryngology - Head and Neck Surgery, Feinberg School of Medicine, Northwestern University, ChicagoIL, USA; Roxelyn and Richard Pepper Department of Communication Sciences and Disorders, Northwestern University, EvanstonIL, USA.
authors.forename: Casandra
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Nowicki
authors.affiliation: Department of Otolaryngology - Head and Neck Surgery, Feinberg School of Medicine, Northwestern University, ChicagoIL, USA; Roxelyn and Richard Pepper Department of Communication Sciences and Disorders, Northwestern University, EvanstonIL, USA.
authors.forename: Audrey
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Zong
authors.affiliation: Department of Otolaryngology - Head and Neck Surgery, Feinberg School of Medicine, Northwestern University, ChicagoIL, USA; Department of Linguistics and Modern Languages, The Chinese University of Hong KongHong Kong, Hong Kong; CUHK-Utrecht University Joint Centre for Language, Mind, and Brain, The Chinese University of Hong KongHong Kong, Hong Kong.
authors.forename: Patrick C M
authors.initials: PC
authors.lastname: Wong
keywords: declarative memory; non-native speech perception; older adults; second language learning; working memory