Relationship between individual differences in speech processing and cognitive functions

Abstract

A growing body of research has suggested that cognitive abilities may play a role in individual differences in speech processing. The present study took advantage of a widespread linguistic phenomenon of sound change to systematically assess the relationships between speech processing and various components of attention and working memory in the auditory and visual modalities among typically developed Cantonese-speaking individuals. The individual variations in speech processing are captured in an ongoing sound change-tone merging in Hong Kong Cantonese, in which typically developed native speakers are reported to lose the distinctions between some tonal contrasts in perception and/or production. Three groups of participants were recruited, with a first group of good perception and production, a second group of good perception but poor production, and a third group of good production but poor perception. Our findings revealed that modality-independent abilities of attentional switching/ control and working memory might contribute to individual differences in patterns of speech perception and production as well as discrimination latencies among typically developed speakers. The findings not only have the potential to generalize to speech processing in other languages, but also broaden our understanding of the omnipresent phenomenon of language change in all languages.

Cognitive basis of individual differences in speech perception, production and representations: The role of domain general attentional switching

“…A more rigorous approach would be to compare variations in perception and production of the same tone contrast. In this light, the present study extends the works of Ou et al (2015) and Ou and Law (2016) by incorporating a sensitivity measure of perception, acoustic measures of production, ERP measures reflecting tone representation as well as cognitive measures, and significantly adding a participant group exhibiting poor perception and production of T2/T5. The inclusion of this group has provided the critical end of the perception-production continuum of the T2/T5 contrast, and thus a more complete picture of individual differences in native tone perception and production among typically developed individuals.…”

“…This protracted phenomenon is realized in the form of variable patterns of perception and production among native speakers. To investigate the variability in native tone perception and production with respect to individual differences in cognitive functions, Ou, Law, and Fung (2015) recruited three groups of participants differing in perception and/or production, and assessed their ability of attention and working memory in both auditory and visual modalities using a battery of objective tools. The three participant groups represented, respectively, the pattern of good perception and good production of all Cantonese tones [+Per+Pro], that of good perception of all tones but poor production of specifically the distinction of the two rising tones (T2 and T5) [+Per-Pro], and that of good production of all tones but poor perception of specifically the distinction of the two low level tones (T4 and T6) [-Per+Pro].…”

“…Moreover, tone production in the study was based on auditory transcription only. To address the above issues, Ou and Law (2016) subsequently conducted a more detailed examination of the differences in perception and production of T2/T5 between the [+Per+Pro] and [+Per-Pro] groups from Ou et al (2015), using ERPs obtained in a passive oddball paradigm for perception and acoustic measurements for production. The ERP measures included (1) an early component reflecting sensitivity to the rise time of sound amplitude envelope (Carpenter & Shahin, 2013;Thomson, Goswami, & Baldeweg, 2009), which has been reported to contribute to tone recognition (Fu & Zeng, 2000;Whalen & Xu, 1992;Zhou, 2012); (2) the mismatch negativity (MMN, see Näätänen, Paavilainen, Rinne, & Alho, 2007 for a review) indicating auditory discrimination sensitivity to the primary acoustic dimension of tone contrasts, i.e., pitch contour/height (Gandour, 1983;Khouw & Ciocca, 2007); and (3) P3a indexing involuntary attentional switching (Polich, 2003).…”

“…While Ou et al (2015) and Ou and Law (2016) have demonstrated the role of cognitive functions in individual differences in native speech perception and production with behavioral measures, and the close and subtle relationship between tone production and neural correlates of perception (i.e., pitch contour and rise time), more convincing evidence would come from associations among cognitive functions, neural correlates of perceptual representations of the acoustic cues, and behavioral measures reflecting the distinctiveness of tone perception and production. In addition, it is important to point out that in Ou et al (2015), the three patterns of tone perception and production were based on performance on two tonal contrasts, i.e., T2/T5 and T4/T6.…”

“…In addition, it is important to point out that in Ou et al (2015), the three patterns of tone perception and production were based on performance on two tonal contrasts, i.e., T2/T5 and T4/T6. A more rigorous approach would be to compare variations in perception and production of the same tone contrast.…”