University of York
University of Scranton.
Psychol Sci. 2014 Jul;25(7):1457-65. doi: 10.1177/0956797614535937. Epub 2014 Jun 3.
The constraints that govern acceptable phoneme combinations in speech perception and production have considerable plasticity. We addressed whether sleep influences the acquisition of new constraints and their integration into the speech-production system. Participants repeated sequences of syllables in which two phonemes were artificially restricted to syllable onset or syllable coda, depending on the vowel in that sequence. After 48 sequences, participants either had a 90-min nap or remained awake. Participants then repeated 96 sequences so implicit constraint learning could be examined, and then were tested for constraint generalization in a forced-choice task. The sleep group, but not the wake group, produced speech errors at test that were consistent with restrictions on the placement of phonemes in training. Furthermore, only the sleep group generalized their learning to new materials. Polysomnography data showed that implicit constraint learning was associated with slow-wave sleep. These results show that sleep facilitates the integration of new linguistic knowledge with existing production constraints. These data have relevance for systems-consolidation models of sleep.
语音感知和产生中可接受音位组合的约束具有相当大的可塑性。我们探讨了睡眠是否会影响新约束的习得及其在言语产生系统中的整合。参与者重复音节序列，其中两个音位根据序列中的元音分别被人为限制在音节开始或音节结尾。经过 48 个序列后，参与者要么小睡 90 分钟，要么保持清醒。然后，参与者重复 96 个序列，以便检查隐含约束学习，然后在强制选择任务中测试约束泛化。只有睡眠组而不是清醒组在测试中产生了与训练中音位位置限制一致的语音错误。此外，只有睡眠组将他们的学习泛化到新材料上。多导睡眠图数据显示，隐含约束学习与慢波睡眠有关。这些结果表明，睡眠促进了新的语言知识与现有产生约束的整合。这些数据与睡眠的系统巩固模型有关。
