Center for Information and Neural Networks (CiNet), National Institute of Information and Communications Technology and Osaka University, Iwaoka, Iwaoka-cho, Nishi-ku, Kobe, Hyougo, Japan.
Graduate School of Information Science and Technology, Osaka University, Yamadaoka, Suita, Osaka, Japan.
PLoS One. 2021 Jul 20;16(7):e0254771. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0254771. eCollection 2021.
Listening is critical for foreign language learning. Listening difficulties can occur because of an inability to perceive or recognize sounds while listening to speech, whereas successful listening can boost understanding and improve speaking when learning a foreign language. Previous studies in our laboratory revealed that EEG-neurofeedback (NF) using mismatch negativity event-related brain potential successfully induced unconscious learning in terms of auditory discrimination of speech sounds. Here, we conducted a feasibility study with a small participant group (NF group and control group; six participants each) to examine the practical effects of mismatch negativity NF for improving the perception of speech sounds in a foreign language. Native Japanese speakers completed a task in which they learned to perceive and recognize spoken English words containing the consonants "l" or "r". Participants received neurofeedback training while not explicitly attending to auditory stimuli. The results revealed that NF training significantly improved the proportion of correct in discrimination and recognition trials, even though the training time for each word pair was reduced to 20% of the training time reported in our previous study. The learning effect was not affected by training with three pairs of words with different vowels. The current results indicate that NF resulted in long-term learning that persisted for at least 2 months.
倾听对于外语学习至关重要。在聆听演讲时，由于无法感知或识别声音，可能会出现听力困难，而成功的听力可以促进理解并提高口语能力，从而促进外语学习。我们实验室之前的研究表明，使用错误相关脑电位的脑电图神经反馈（NF）成功地诱导了语音听觉辨别方面的无意识学习。在这里，我们进行了一项小型参与者组（NF 组和对照组；每组 6 名参与者）的可行性研究，以检验错误相关脑电位 NF 改善外语语音感知的实际效果。母语为日语的参与者完成了一项任务，即学习感知和识别包含辅音“l”或“r”的英语口语单词。参与者在没有明确关注听觉刺激的情况下接受神经反馈训练。结果表明，即使每个单词对的训练时间减少到我们之前研究中报告的 20％，NF 训练也显著提高了辨别和识别试验中正确的比例。训练使用三个具有不同元音的单词对并不影响学习效果。当前的结果表明，NF 导致了长期学习，这种学习效果至少持续了 2 个月。
