Embedded Files
Sensory, linguistic, and domain-general pattern detection
Sensory, linguistic, and domain-general pattern detection
Information processing in the brain operates hierarchically. In speech, at least three levels of processing are involved: auditory (of the physical properties of sounds), linguistic (the differentiation between /d/ and /t/ in English), and domain-general pattern detection (combining instances of English /d/ and /t/ to create an ad hoc supra-group). Previous work indicates that the processing of consonants is predominantly linguistic (linguistic > auditory & domain-general pattern detection), so English brains refuse to mix instances of /d/ and /t/ to create an ad hoc supra-group (Phillips et al., 2000). Auditory processing is also overshadowed by linguistic processing, as small acoustic differences between instances of /d/ have limited influence (Rhodes et al., 2019).
My work on Chinese lexical tone, whose primary acoustic correlate is the fundamental frequency pattern over a syllable, reveals that the perception of Chinese lexical tone is not predominantly linguistic (domain-general pattern detection > linguistic > auditory), so Chinese brains can mix two distinct tone categories (/ī/ and /ì/) to create an ad hoc supra-group. Evidence for linguistic processing of lexical tone is only indirectly observed via the disruption of auditory processing, where the brain responses are expected to correlate with acoustic properties.
Google Sites
Report abuse