Effects of Place of Articulation Changes on Auditory Neural Activity
Author Information
Author(s): Tavabi Kambiz, Elling Ludger, Dobel Christian, Pantev Christo, Zwitserlood Pienie
Primary Institution: Institute for Biomagnetism and Biosignalanalysis, Münster, Germany
Hypothesis
How does the speech-processing system deal with variability caused by place assimilation in phonemic segments?
Conclusion
The study found that auditory evoked mismatch negativity responses are influenced by the frequency and contextual appropriateness of place assimilation.
Supporting Evidence
- Listeners can perceptually compensate for changes in speech sounds due to assimilation.
- The study revealed that the strength of auditory evoked responses is modulated by the frequency of assimilations.
- Contextual appropriateness significantly influences the mismatch negativity response.
Takeaway
This study looked at how our brains react to changes in speech sounds, especially when sounds blend together, and found that the context of the sounds matters.
Methodology
The study used magnetoencephalography (MEG) to measure brain responses to pseudoword stimuli in an auditory oddball paradigm.
Limitations
The study used pseudowords, which may not fully represent real-word processing.
Participant Demographics
Sixteen right-handed German speakers, mean age 24, 11 female.
Statistical Information
P-Value
p<0.05
Statistical Significance
p<0.05
Digital Object Identifier (DOI)
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