An interaction between prosody and statistics in the segmentation of fluent speech

Sensitivity to prosodic cues might be used to constrain lexical search. Indeed, the prosodic organization of speech is such that words are invariably aligned with phrasal prosodic edges, providing a cue to segmentation. In this paper we devise an experimental paradigm that allows us to investigate the interaction between statistical and prosodic cues to extract words from a speech stream. We provide evidence that statistics over the syllables are computed independently of prosody. However, we also show that trisyllabic sequences with high transition probabilities that straddle two prosodic constituents appear not to be recognized. Taken together, our findings suggest that prosody acts as a filter, suppressing possible word-like sequences that span prosodic constituents.     

Further evaluation of emerging speech in children with developmental disabilities: training verbal behavior

The conceptual basis for many effective language-training programs are based on Skinner's (1957) analysis of verbal behavior. Skinner described several elementary verbal operants including mands, tacts, intraverbals, and echoics. According to Skinner, responses that are the same topography may actually be functionally independent. Previous research has supported Skinner's assertion of functional independence (e.g., Hall & Sundberg, 1987; Lamarre & Holland, 1985), and some research has suggested that specific programming must be incorporated to achieve generalization across verbal operants (e.g., Sigafoos, Reichle, & Doss, 1990). The present study provides further analysis of the independence of verbal operants when teaching language to children with autism and other developmental disabilities. In the current study, 3 participants' vocal responses were first assessed as mands or tacts. Generalization for each verbal operant across alternate conditions was then assessed and subsequent training provided as needed. Results indicated that generalization across verbal operants occurred across some, but not all, vocal responses. These results are discussed relative to the functional independence of verbal operants as described by Skinner.     

Assessment of the functions of vocal behavior in children with developmental disabilities: a replication

Although experimental analysis methodologies have been useful for identifying the function of a wide variety of target behaviors (e.g., Iwata, Dorsey, Slifer, Bauman, & Richman, 1982/1994), only recently have such procedures been applied to verbal operants (Lerman et al., 2005). In the current study, we conducted a systematic replication of the methodology developed by Lerman et al. Participants were 4 children who had been diagnosed with developmental disabilities and who engaged in limited vocal behavior. The function of vocal behavior was assessed by exposing target vocal responses to experimental analyses. Results showed that experimental analyses were generally useful for identifying the functions of vocal behavior across all participants.     

前额叶在双语词汇通达中的抑制作用——对一例前额叶损伤双语病人的研究

先前研究表明,双语词汇产生和双语词汇理解过程中存在着抑制机制。本实验以一例前额叶损伤中-英双语病人为研究对象,通过让其完成系统的语言测试任务和认知实验任务,考察了双语词汇通达过程中抑制机制的神经基础。总的实验结果初步表明,前额叶在双语词汇通达过程中发挥着重要的抑制作用。     

The effects of meaningful irrelevant speech and road traffic noise on teachers' attention, episodic and semantic memory

The aim of the present experiment was to examine the effects of meaningful irrelevant speech and road traffic noise on attention, episodic and semantic memory, and also to examine whether the noise effects were age-dependent. A total of 96 male and female teachers in the age range of 35-45 and 55-65 years were randomly assigned to a silent or the two noise conditions. Noise effects found in episodic memory were limited to a meaningful text, where cued recall contrary to expectations was equally impaired by the two types of noise. However, meaningful irrelevant speech also deteriorated recognition of the text, whereas road traffic noise caused no decrement. Retrieval from two word fluency tests in semantic memory showed strong effects of noise exposure, one affected by meaningful irrelevant speech and the other by road traffic noise. The results implied that both acoustic variation and the semantic interference could be of importance for noise impairments. The expected age-dependent noise effects did not show up.     

Possible-Word Constraints in Cantonese Speech Segmentation

A Cantonese syllable-spotting experiment was conducted to examine whether the Possible-Word Constraint (PWC), proposed by Norris, McQueen, Cutler, and Butterfield (1997), can apply in Cantonese speech segmentation. In the experiment, listeners were asked to spot out the target Cantonese syllable from a series of nonsense sound strings. Results suggested that listeners found it more difficult to spot out the target syllable [kDm1] in the nonsense sound strings that attached with a single consonant [tkDm1] than in the nonsense sound strings that attached either with a vowel [a:kDm1] or a pseudo-syllable [khow1kDm1]. Finally, the current set of results further supported that the PWC appears to be a language-universal mechanism in segmenting continuous speech.     

The effects of state and trait self-focused attention on sexual arousal in sexually functional and dysfunctional women

This study examined the effects of state self-focused attention on sexual arousal and trait self-consciousness on sexual arousal and function in sexually functional (n=16) and dysfunctional (n=16) women. Self-focused attention was induced using a 50% reflectant television screen in one of two counterbalanced sessions during which self-report and physiological sexual responses to erotic films were measured. Self-focused attention significantly decreased vaginal pulse amplitude (VPA) responses among sexually functional but not dysfunctional women, and substantially decreased correlations between self-report and VPA measures of sexual arousal. Self-focused attention did not significantly impact subjective sexual arousal in sexually functional or dysfunctional women. Trait private self-consciousness was positively related to sexual desire, orgasm, compatibility, contentment and sexual satisfaction. Public self-consciousness was correlated with sexual pain. The findings are discussed in terms of Masters and Johnson's [Masters, W. H. & Johnson, V. E. (1970). Human sexual inadequacy. Boston: Little, Brown) concepts of "spectatoring" and "sensate focus."     

Clinical and anatomical correlates of apraxia of speech

In a previous study (Dronkers, 1996), stroke patients identified as having apraxia of speech (AOS), an articulatory disorder, were found to have damage to the left superior precentral gyrus of the insula (SPGI). The present study sought (1) to characterize the performance of patients with AOS on a classic motor speech evaluation, and (2) to examine whether severity of AOS was influenced by the extent of the lesion. Videotaped speech evaluations of stroke patients with and without AOS were reviewed by two speech-language pathologists and independently scored. Results indicated that patients with AOS made the most errors on tasks requiring the coordination of complex, but not simple, articulatory movements. Patients scored lowest on the repetition of multisyllabic words and sentences that required immediate shifting between place and manner of articulation and rapid coordination of the lips, tongue, velum, and larynx. Last, all patients with AOS had lesions in the SPGI, whereas patients without apraxia of speech did not. Additional involvement of neighboring brain areas was associated with more severe forms of both AOS as well as language deficits, such as aphasia.     

Syllable monitoring in internally and externally generated English words

The ability of English speakers to monitor internally and externally generated words for syllables was investigated in this paper. An internal speech monitoring task required participants to silently generate a carrier word on hearing a semantically related prompt word (e.g., reveal—divulge). These productions were monitored for prespecified target strings that were either a syllable match (e.g., /dai/), a syllable mismatch (e.g., /daiv/), or unrelated (e.g., /hju:/) to the initial syllable of the word. In all three experiments the longer target sequence was monitored for faster. However, this tendency reached significance only when the longer string also matched a syllable in the carrier word. External speech versions of each experiment were run that yielded a similar influence of syllabicity but only when the syllable match string also had a closed structure. It was concluded that any influence of syllabicity found using either task reflected the properties of a shared perception-based monitoring system.     

Probabilistic constraint satisfaction at the lexical/phonetic interface: evidence for gradient effects of within-category VOT on lexical access

Research in speech perception has been dominated by a search for invariant properties of the signal that correlate with lexical and sublexical categories. We argue that this search for invariance has led researchers to ignore the perceptual consequences of systematic variation within such categories and that sensitivity to this variation may provide an important source of information for integrating information over time in speech perception. Data from a study manipulating VOT continua in words using an eye-movement paradigm indicate that lexical access shows graded sensitivity to within-category variation in VOT and that this sensitivity has a duration sufficient to be useful for information integration. These data support a model in which the perceptual system integrates information from multiple sources and from the surrounding temporal context using probabilistic cue-weighting mechanisms.