Phonology Laboratory, Department of Linguistics, University of Chicago, Chicago, Illinois, United States of America.
PLoS One. 2013 Sep 30;8(9):e74746. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0074746. eCollection 2013.
Numerous studies have documented the phenomenon of phonetic imitation: the process by which the production patterns of an individual become more similar on some phonetic or acoustic dimension to those of her interlocutor. Though social factors have been suggested as a motivator for imitation, few studies has established a tight connection between language-external factors and a speaker's likelihood to imitate. The present study investigated the phenomenon of phonetic imitation using a within-subject design embedded in an individual-differences framework. Participants were administered a phonetic imitation task, which included two speech production tasks separated by a perceptual learning task, and a battery of measures assessing traits associated with Autism-Spectrum Condition, working memory, and personality. To examine the effects of subjective attitude on phonetic imitation, participants were randomly assigned to four experimental conditions, where the perceived sexual orientation of the narrator (homosexual vs. heterosexual) and the outcome (positive vs. negative) of the story depicted in the exposure materials differed. The extent of phonetic imitation by an individual is significantly modulated by the story outcome, as well as by the participant's subjective attitude toward the model talker, the participant's personality trait of openness and the autistic-like trait associated with attention switching.
即个体的产生模式在某些语音或声学维度上变得与她的对话者更加相似的过程。尽管社会因素被认为是模仿的动机之一，但很少有研究在语言外部因素和说话者模仿的可能性之间建立紧密的联系。本研究采用个体差异框架内的被试内设计来研究语音模仿现象。参与者接受了一项语音模仿任务，该任务包括两个语音产生任务，中间夹着一个感知学习任务，以及一系列与自闭症谱系条件、工作记忆和个性相关的特征评估。为了研究主观态度对语音模仿的影响，参与者被随机分配到四个实验条件中，其中讲述者的感知性取向（同性恋与异性恋）和暴露材料中所描述的故事的结果（积极与消极）不同。个体的语音模仿程度受到故事结果、参与者对示范说话者的主观态度、参与者的开放性人格特质以及与注意力转换相关的自闭症特质的显著调节。
