Mei Yunhao, Chen Fei, Chen Xiaoxiang
School of Foreign Languages, Hunan University, Lushannan Road No. 2, Yuelu District, Changsha 410082, China.
Brain Sci. 2024 Nov 28;14(12):1204. doi: 10.3390/brainsci14121204.
BACKGROUND/OBJECTIVES: Normative perceptual segmentation facilitates event perception, comprehension, and memory. Given that native English listeners' normative perceptual segmentation of English speech streams coexists with a highly selective attention pattern at segmentation boundaries, it is significant to test whether Chinese learners of English have a different attention pattern at boundaries, thereby checking whether they perform a normative segmentation.
Thirty Chinese learners of English with relatively higher language proficiency (CLH) and 26 with relatively lower language proficiency (CLL) listened to a series of English audio sentences. Meanwhile, they were asked to press the key whenever a phonetic probe "ba" occurred. Response time to "ba" reflects the attention where "ba" is located at segmentation boundaries.
The results revealed that, (1) relative to native English listeners' highly selective attention pattern, the CLH group showed a relatively selective attention pattern, while the CLL group displayed a non-selective attention pattern. (2) Both the CLH group and natives had better recognition memory than the CLL group. (3) Both the CLH group and natives' attention at segmentation boundaries was not correlated with their memory for sentences, while the CLL group's attention at boundaries was correlated with memory.
These findings suggest that (1) Chinese learners of English did not perform a normative segmentation, which shows the effect of English proficiency on perceptual segmentation; (2) English proficiency has a superior effect on memory for sentences, while perceptual segmentation would come next to support memory by providing structure for memory construction if English proficiency is not high; (3) a comparison of attention patterns between Chinese learners and natives can provide a reference for potential intervention to rectify non-natives, thereby improving their perception of English speech streams.
背景/目的：规范的感知分割有助于事件感知、理解和记忆。鉴于以英语为母语的听众对英语语音流的规范感知分割与分割边界处高度选择性的注意模式并存，测试中国英语学习者在边界处是否具有不同的注意模式，从而检查他们是否进行规范分割具有重要意义。
30名语言水平相对较高的中国英语学习者（CLH）和26名语言水平相对较低的中国英语学习者（CLL）听了一系列英语音频句子。同时，要求他们每当出现语音探针“ba”时就按下按键。对“ba”的反应时间反映了“ba”在分割边界处的注意力。
结果显示，（1）相对于以英语为母语的听众高度选择性的注意模式，CLH组表现出相对选择性的注意模式，而CLL组表现出非选择性的注意模式。（2）CLH组和以英语为母语的人都比CLL组有更好的识别记忆。（3）CLH组和以英语为母语的人在分割边界处的注意力与他们对句子的记忆无关，而CLL组在边界处的注意力与记忆相关。
这些发现表明，（1）中国英语学习者没有进行规范分割，这显示了英语水平对感知分割的影响；（2）英语水平对句子记忆有更显著的影响，而如果英语水平不高，感知分割会通过为记忆构建提供结构来支持记忆；（3）比较中国学习者和以英语为母语的人的注意模式可以为纠正非母语者的潜在干预提供参考，从而改善他们对英语语音流的感知。
