Department of Psychology, The Pennsylvania State University, University Park, PA, USA.
Q J Exp Psychol (Hove). 2023 Jul;76(7):1609-1631. doi: 10.1177/17470218221124869. Epub 2022 Oct 6.
Although speaking in noisy environments is a common occurrence, few studies have investigated how noise affects language production beyond the acoustic level. In seeking to differentiate between speaker- and listener-oriented modifications, this study examines the effect of noise on the complexity of language production and examines whether cognitive control predicts noise-induced modifications. Participants completed a picture description task via videoconferencing software while both the speaker (the participant) and listener (the experimenter) were exposed to multi-talker babble. Speakers produced fewer T-units, clauses, and words as well as fewer, but longer, unfilled pauses in noise. The degree of reduction in number of clauses, words, and unfilled pauses was significantly associated with weaker cognitive control. Thus, we consider these modifications to be speaker-oriented, driven by the distracting nature of noise. However, participants also produced fewer filled pauses and mazes in noise. These modifications were not significantly correlated with cognitive control, and they diverge from prior work demonstrating that speakers tend to produce disfluencies when they alone shoulder the burden of a noisy environment. This pattern of results suggests that speakers may alter their speech to alleviate cognitive burden on themselves as well as to facilitate comprehension for their listener.
虽然在嘈杂环境中讲话是很常见的，但很少有研究从声学层面以外的角度来探究噪声对语言产生的影响。为了区分以说话者为中心和以听话者为中心的调整，本研究考察了噪声对语言产生复杂性的影响，并探讨了认知控制是否可以预测噪声引起的调整。参与者通过视频会议软件完成图片描述任务，同时说话者（参与者）和听话者（实验者）都处于多说话者背景噪声中。说话者在噪声中生成的 T 单位、子句和单词更少，未填充停顿时间更长且数量更少。子句、单词和未填充停顿数量减少的程度与较弱的认知控制显著相关。因此，我们认为这些调整是以说话者为中心的，是由噪声的干扰性质驱动的。然而，参与者在噪声中也产生了较少的填充停顿和迷宫。这些调整与认知控制没有显著相关性，并且与先前的研究结果不同，先前的研究表明，当说话者独自承担嘈杂环境的负担时，他们往往会产生不流畅的语言。这种结果模式表明，说话者可能会调整他们的讲话，以减轻自己的认知负担，并为听话者提供帮助。
