Cues to lexical choice: Discriminating place and voice

Two experiments used the gating paradigm to investigate the manner in which acoustic-phonetic information is mapped onto the lexical level during the processes of lexical access and selection. The first experiment tested word identification across successive 25-msec gates of monosyllables contrasting in word-final voicing and showed a continuous uptake of durational cues. The second experiment expanded upon earlier research into the uptake of partial cues in the spectral domain and revealed strong effects at vowel closure on the choice between word candidates terminating in different places of articulation. The results were interpreted as suggesting a contrast between symmetric and asymmetric decision processes, with phonological structure being the potential source of asymmetries in the lexical interpretation of acoustic cues.