Learning Complex Auditory Categories

分类是人类认知的一个基本特征。最近的研究表明，语言习得和成人语言感知至少部分依赖于与母语语音相对应的语音类别的形成。不幸的是，关于知觉分类的许多已知知识都是从对与语音类别（例如视觉类别）根本不同的类别的检查中学到的。不幸的是，探索语音分类的方法并不像将视觉分类的方法和结果应用于语音感知领域那么容易。言语类别很难检查，因为在进入实验室之前，很难确定听者所遇到的言语经历的历史。几乎没有实验控制。幸运的是，有一种方法可以解决这个重要问题。pi的试点工作表明，模拟语音类别结构的复杂非语音在学习听者如何形成类似语音类别的类别方面具有价值。使用在这项试点工作中开发的一套新方法，pi将研究经验在形成复杂听觉类别中的作用。该项目的最终目标是确定一般知觉分类过程在第一语言和第二语言习得中的作用。一项研究计划将使用复杂的非言语声音来详细说明人类听者如何形成复杂的听觉类别。然后将对这些结果进行检查，以确定语音感知的一些显着特征是否可以部分地通过吸引感知分类的一般过程来解释。这些实验的结果将允许pi开发出有效的暴露和训练方法来教授第二语言学习者非母语对比。揭示复杂类别学习的机制将有助于培养个体区分非母语语言类别的能力。这些辅助工具可以很容易地扩展到其他复杂的学习任务，如音乐训练、声音警告系统或听觉数据显示。

Categorization is a fundamental characteristic of human cognition. Recent research has suggested that at least part of language acquisition and adult speech perception depends upon formation of phonetic categories corresponding to the speech sounds of the native language. Unfortunately, much of what is known about perceptual categorization has been learned from examination of categories that are fundamentally different from phonetic categories (e.g., visual categories).Unfortunately, probing the means by which speech is categorized is not so easy as applying methods and results from visual categorization to the domain of speech perception. Speech categories are very difficult to examine because it is extraordinarily difficult to determine the history of speech experience that a listener encounters before entering the laboratory. There simply is little experimental control. Fortunately, there is a means to address this important question. Pilot work by the PIs has suggested that complex non-speech sounds that model the structure of speech categories have value in learning about how listeners form categories similar to phonetic categories. Using the set of novel methods developed in this pilot work, the PIs will investigate the role of experience in forming complex auditory categories.The ultimate goal of this project is to determine the role that general perceptual categorization processes play in first and second language acquisition. A program of research will employ complex nonspeech sounds to provide a detailed account of how human listeners form complex auditory categories. These results then will be examined to determine whether some of the notable characteristics of speech perception can be explained in part by appealing to general processes of perceptual categorization. The results of these experiments will allow the PIs to develop efficient methods of exposure and training to teach non-native contrasts to second-language learners. Exposing the mechanisms of complex category learning will illuminate potential aids for training individuals to discriminate nonnative speech categories. These aids could extend easily to other complex learning tasks such as musical training, acoustic warning systems or auditory data displays.