Kachlicka Magdalena, Saito Kazuya, Tierney Adam
Department of Psychological Sciences, Birkbeck, University of London, Malet Street, London WC1E 7HX, United Kingdom; Institute for Environmental Design and Engineering, University College London, Gower Street, London WC1E 6BT, United Kingdom.
Institute of Education, University College London, Gower Street, London WC1E 6BT, United Kingdom.
Brain Lang. 2019 May;192:15-24. doi: 10.1016/j.bandl.2019.02.004. Epub 2019 Mar 1.
There is a great deal of individual variability in outcome in second language learning, the sources of which are still poorly understood. We hypothesized that individual differences in auditory processing may account for some variability in second language learning. We tested this hypothesis by examining psychoacoustic thresholds, auditory-motor temporal integration, and auditory neural encoding in adult native Polish speakers living in the UK. We found that precise English vowel perception and accurate English grammatical judgment were linked to lower psychoacoustic thresholds, better auditory-motor integration, and more consistent frequency-following responses to sound. Psychoacoustic thresholds and neural sound encoding explained independent variance in vowel perception, suggesting that they are dissociable indexes of sound processing. These results suggest that individual differences in second language acquisition success stem at least in part from domain-general difficulties with auditory perception, and that auditory training could help facilitate language learning in some individuals with specific auditory impairments.
第二语言学习的结果存在很大的个体差异，其根源仍未得到充分理解。我们假设听觉处理方面的个体差异可能是第二语言学习中某些差异的原因。我们通过检测居住在英国的成年波兰母语者的心理声学阈值、听觉-运动时间整合和听觉神经编码来验证这一假设。我们发现，准确的英语元音感知和准确的英语语法判断与较低的心理声学阈值、更好的听觉-运动整合以及对声音更一致的频率跟随反应有关。心理声学阈值和神经声音编码解释了元音感知中的独立方差，表明它们是声音处理的可分离指标。这些结果表明，第二语言习得成功的个体差异至少部分源于听觉感知方面的一般领域困难，并且听觉训练可能有助于促进某些有特定听觉障碍个体的语言学习。
