Doctoral Dissertation Research: Learning of Novel Phonetic Categories After Training in Perception and Production

人类拥有非凡的能力来产生和理解语言。 为了成功地学习一门语言，一个人必须学习特定语言中的声音类别是什么，以及是什么使各种声音彼此不同。 例如，“r”和“l”在英语中属于不同的声音类别，但在其他一些语言中则不是。 学习如何区分这些声音并发出它们是学习语言的重要组成部分。目前，关于听众如何学习感知语音声音类别的知识很多;然而，关于说话者如何在产生中学习语音类别以及如何在一种模态（即，感知或产生）与另一种形式的学习有关。 感知和生产之间的关系可以有多种形式。 一种模式的学习总是可以引导另一种模式的学习（即，一个人必须能够在他们能够产生区别之前感知到区别）。 两种模态的类别形成可以并行发生（即，感知和产生可以同时学习新的声音）。 或者，以一种方式学习实际上可能会阻碍以另一种方式学习（例如，言语产生中的学习可能破坏言语感知中的学习）。 本研究旨在区分这些假设。本研究中的实验旨在训练参与者对新的声音类别的培训集中在感知或生产。 然后，参与者在感知和生产方面进行测试。 解开新的声音类别是如何形成和访问的两种方式不仅可以深入了解新的声音类别的学习过程，而且还可以了解这两种方式是如何相关的。本文的研究成果具有重要的理论意义和应用价值。 更好地理解范畴是如何形成的，将有助于为第一语言和第二语言学习者提供学习理论。 理解言语感知和言语产生之间的关系，将有助于我们在言语感知和言语产生过程中建立言语处理模型。 在应用领域，理解感知和产出的界面，特别是在声音类别的水平，将有利于第二语言教师。 此外，临床医生，如语音语言病理学家，将受益于更好地了解这两种模式如何相互作用时，学习（或重新学习）新的声音类别。 例如，如果患者在言语产生方面有障碍，他们可能能够使用其完整的感知能力来重新训练受损的模态。

Humans possess a remarkable ability to produce and understand speech. In order to successfully learn a language, an individual must learn what the sound categories in a particular language are and what makes various sounds different from one another. For instance, "r" and "l" belong to different sound categories in English, but not in some other languages. Learning how to differentiate between these sounds and produce them is an important part of learning a language. Currently much is known about how listeners learn to perceive the speech sound categories; however, significantly less is known about how speakers learn about speech categories in production and how learning in one modality (i.e., perception or production) is related to learning in the other modality. The relationship between perception and production could take many forms. Learning in one modality could always lead learning in the other (i.e., an individual would have to be able to perceive a distinction before they could produce it). Category formation could occur in parallel for both modalities (i.e., both perception and production could learn about new sounds simultaneously). Alternately, learning in one modality could actually hinder learning in another modality (e.g., learning in speech production could disrupt learning in speech perception). This study aims to differentiate among these hypotheses. The experiments in this study are designed to train participants on novel sound categories with the training focusing on either perception or production. Then participants are tested in both perception and production. Untangling how new sound categories are formed and accessed in the two modalities will give insight not only into the learning process of new sound categories but also into how the two modalities are related. The findings of this study will be significant in both theoretical and applied domains. Having a better understanding of how categories are formed will help inform theories of learning for both first- and second-language learners. Understanding how speech perception and production are related will be informative in the development of models of speech processing in both perception and production. In the applied domain, understanding how perception and production interface, particularly at the level of sound categories, will be beneficial for second-language teachers. Furthermore, clinicians, such as speech-language pathologists, will benefit from a better understanding of how the two modalities interact when learning (or re-learning) novel sound categories. For instance, if patients have an impairment in speech production, they may be able to use their intact perceptual abilities to re-train the impaired modality.