Influencing the time and space of lexical competition: The effect of gradient foreign accentedness.

Abstract

This article examines the influence of gradient foreign accentedness on lexical competition during spoken word recognition. Using native and Mandarin-accented English words ranging in degree of foreign accentedness, we investigate the effect of increased accentedness on (a) the size of the competitor space and (b) the strength and duration of competitor activation. Here, we analyze the number of misperceptions in a transcription task, as well as the time course of competitor activation in a Visual World Paradigm eye-tracking task. The transcription data show that as accentedness increases, the number of unique misperceptions increases. This indicates that greater accent strength induces the activation of many additional competitors within the competition space relative to native speech. The eye-tracking data further show that, as accentedness increases, looks to competitors (not produced in the transcription task) increase both in likelihood and duration. This indicates that greater accentedness boosts the strength of competitor activation as well as the duration of the competition process, even when comprehension is ultimately successful, suggesting strong and diffuse competition within the lexicon. The results provide evidence of changes in the underlying dynamics, which lead to the pervasive processing costs associated with foreign-accented speech that are commonly observed in behavioral data.

Eyes Wide Open: Pupillary Response to a Foreign Accent Varying in Intelligibility

“…If stronger and more diffuse competition occurs in the presence of a stronger accent, this competitive process will take longer to be resolved. Porretta and Kyröläinen (2019) found that the duration of lexical competition was positively correlated with the strength of foreign accent, and a similar effect was found for speech in noise (Brouwer and Bradlow, 2016). So, this increase in the duration of cognitive load may be due to underlying processes, such as effects associated with lexical competition.…”

“…While processing costs have been repeatedly demonstrated, the precise nature of these costs is still not fully understood. However, recent work has indicated that these processing costs may be due to the underlying dynamics of lexical competition; namely, increased accentedness leads to strong and diffuse activation throughout the lexicon which requires more processing time and effort to resolve the additional competition among words (Porretta and Kyröläinen, 2019).…”

The Presence of Background Noise Extends the Competitor Space in Native and Non‐Native Spoken‐Word Recognition: Insights from Computational Modeling

“…This process is referred to as multiple activation or phonological competition and is affected by several factors, including, among others, the lexical frequency of the targets and competitors (Dahan, Magnuson, & Tanenhaus, 2001) and phonological neighborhood density (Chen & Mirman, 2012; Vitevitch & Luce, 1999). Furthermore, phonological competition is affected by “nativeness,” as non‐native listeners, and native listeners listening to foreign‐accented speech, show enhanced phonological competition (Broersma, 2012; Porretta & Kyröläinen, 2019; Scharenborg & van Os, 2019; Scharenborg, Coumans, & van Hout, 2018; Spivey & Marian, 1999; Weber & Cutler, 2004). Similarly, previous research has shown that the presence of background noise leads to enhanced phonological competition and a prolongation of the competition phase (Ben‐David et al., 2011; Brouwer & Bradlow, 2016; Hintz & Scharenborg, 2016).…”

When processing costs impact predictive processing: The case of foreign-accented speech and accent experience

“…Using pupil dilation, Porretta and Tucker (2019), showed that accented speech requires more listening effort. Additionally, Porretta and Kyröläinen (2019) demonstrated that accented speech results in the activation of more lexical competitors, which creates more possibilities and requires more time to resolve (if it is resolved at all). This could explain how the output of the decoding process influences the engagement of the prediction mechanism.…”

“…found that as accent strength increases, spoken primes become less effective, indicating reduced activation. Additionally, Porretta and Kyröläinen (2019) demonstrated that foreign-accented speech induces more lexical competition; listeners entertain more candidate words for a longer period of time, even when comprehension is successful. The uncertainty of the signal likely leads to these changes, as similar results have been found for speech in noise (Brouwer & Bradlow, 2016).…”