Department of Speech, Language and Hearing Sciences, University of Connecticut, Storrs.
Connecticut Institute for the Brain and Cognitive Sciences, University of Connecticut, Storrs.
J Speech Lang Hear Res. 2021 Mar 17;64(3):707-724. doi: 10.1044/2020_JSLHR-20-00283. Epub 2021 Feb 19.
Purpose The extant literature suggests that individual differences in speech perception can be linked to broad receptive language phenotype. For example, a recent study found that individuals with a smaller receptive vocabulary showed diminished lexically guided perceptual learning compared to individuals with a larger receptive vocabulary. Here, we examined (a) whether such individual differences stem from variation in reliance on lexical information or variation in perceptual learning itself and (b) whether a relationship exists between lexical recruitment and lexically guided perceptual learning more broadly, as predicted by current models of lexically guided perceptual learning. Method In Experiment 1, adult participants ( = 70) completed measures of receptive and expressive language ability, lexical recruitment, and lexically guided perceptual learning. In Experiment 2, adult participants ( = 120) completed the same lexical recruitment and lexically guided perceptual learning tasks to provide a high-powered replication of the primary findings from Experiment 1. Results In Experiment 1, individuals with weaker receptive language ability showed lexical recruitment relative to individuals with higher receptive language ability; however, receptive language ability did not predict the magnitude of lexically guided perceptual learning. Moreover, the results of both experiments converged to show no evidence indicating a relationship between lexical recruitment and lexically guided perceptual learning. Conclusion The current findings suggest that (a) individuals with weaker language ability demonstrate increased reliance on lexical information for speech perception compared to those with stronger receptive language ability; (b) individuals with weaker language ability maintain an intact perceptual learning mechanism; and, (c) to the degree that the measures used here accurately capture individual differences in lexical recruitment and lexically guided perceptual learning, there is no graded relationship between these two constructs.
目的 现有文献表明，言语感知的个体差异可以与广泛的接受性语言表型相关联。例如，最近的一项研究发现，与接受性词汇量较大的个体相比，接受性词汇量较小的个体在词汇引导的感知学习方面表现出明显的减弱。在这里，我们研究了：（a）这些个体差异是否源于对词汇信息的依赖变化或感知学习本身的变化；以及（b）当前词汇引导的感知学习模型所预测的词汇习得与词汇引导的感知学习之间是否存在关系。 方法 在实验 1 中，成人参与者（n=70）完成了接受性和表达性语言能力、词汇习得和词汇引导的感知学习测量。在实验 2 中，成人参与者（n=120）完成了相同的词汇习得和词汇引导的感知学习任务，以对实验 1 的主要发现进行高功率复制。 结果 在实验 1 中，接受性语言能力较弱的个体与接受性语言能力较强的个体相比，表现出了词汇习得；然而，接受性语言能力并不能预测词汇引导的感知学习的程度。此外，两项实验的结果都表明，没有证据表明词汇习得和词汇引导的感知学习之间存在关系。 结论 当前的研究结果表明：（a）与接受性语言能力较强的个体相比，语言能力较弱的个体在言语感知中表现出更强的对词汇信息的依赖；（b）语言能力较弱的个体保持了完整的感知学习机制；并且，（c）在某种程度上，这里使用的测量方法准确地捕捉到了词汇习得和词汇引导的感知学习的个体差异，这两个结构之间没有等级关系。
