Effects of native language and training on lexical tone perception: An event-related potential study

Repetition of complex frequency-modulated sweeps enhances neuromagnetic responses in the human auditory cortex

“…Future studies that systematically vary the complexity of FM sweeps and the ISI between the stimuli within sound sequences may clarify the role of these parameters in generating a mismatch response. Further investigations could also increase the complexity of the stimulus set towards spoken language: for example, in tonal languages meaning is conveyed by modulation of the formant frequency (Thai: Kaan et al, 2007;Mandarin Chinese: Luo et al, 2007;Yang et al, 2008). Such tonal speech sounds share various characteristics with our stimulus set, namely frequency modulation and harmonic structure, thus similar enhancement effects may be observed for this ecologically relevant stimulus class.…”

Individual variability in cue-weighting and lexical tone learning

“…Native speakers tended to exhibit more categorical perception of pitch direction, relative to non-native participants. Studies examining preattentive tonal processing using a neural index of change-detection, called the mismatch negativity ͑MMN͒, have demonstrated superior representation of pitch contour/direction in native speakers of Mandarin, relative to speakers of a non-tonal language ͑Chandrasekaran et al, 2007b; Kaan et al, 2007͒. Taken together, a consistent pattern across these studies is that native speakers of Mandarin selectively attend more to pitch contour/direction, and non-native participants tend to attend less to this dimension.…”

Effects of production training and perception training on lexical tone perception – A behavioral and ERP study

“…However, these perceptual and production difficulties that confront native speakers of non-tonal languages are not insuperable. Several behavioral and electrophysiological studies have shown that short-term perceptual and production training are effective in improving the comprehension and production of lexical tones by native speakers of non-tonal languages (Kaan et al, 2007(Kaan et al, , 2008Leather, 1990;Song et al, 2008;Wang et al, 1999;Wayland and Guion, 2004;Wayland and Li, 2008). Moreover, the effects of perception training and production training may be inter-transferable (Wang et al, 2003;Leather, 1990).…”

“…Many studies have shown that the behavioral improvement in speech perception is usually accompanied by an increased MMN (e.g. Tremblay et al, 1997;Kaan et al, 2007). Sometimes the increased MMN is observed even before the behavioral improvement occurs (e.g.…”