scholarly journals The Development of Categorical Perception of Segments and Suprasegments in Mandarin-Speaking Preschoolers

2021 ◽  
Vol 12 ◽  
Author(s):  
Junzhou Ma ◽  
Jiaqiang Zhu ◽  
Yuxiao Yang ◽  
Fei Chen
Keyword(s):  
Categorical Perception ◽  
Developmental Trajectories ◽  
Discrimination Score ◽  
Perceptual Development ◽  
Lexical Tones ◽  
Intrinsic Nature ◽  
Memory Mechanism ◽  
Phonological Categories ◽  
Category Discrimination ◽  
Boundary Width

This study investigated the developmental trajectories of categorical perception (CP) of segments (i.e., stops) and suprasegments (i.e., lexical tones) in an attempt to examine the perceptual development of phonological categories and whether CP of suprasegments develops in parallel with that of segments. Forty-seven Mandarin-speaking monolingual preschoolers aged four to six years old, and fourteen adults completed both identification and discrimination tasks of the Tone 1-2 continuum and the /pa/-/pha/ continuum. Results revealed that children could perceive both lexical tones and aspiration of stops in a categorical manner by age four. The boundary position did not depend on age, with children having similar positions to adults regardless of speech continuum types. The boundary width, on the other hand, reached the adult-like level at age six for lexical tones, but not for stops. In addition, the within-category discrimination score did not differ significantly between children and adults for both continua. The between-category discrimination score improved with age and achieved the adult-like level at age five for lexical tones, but still not for stops even at age six. It suggests that the fine-grained perception of phonological categories is a protracted process, and the improvement and varying timeline of the development of segments and suprasegments are discussed in relation to statistical learning of the regularities of speech sounds in ambient language, ongoing maturation of perceptual systems, the memory mechanism underlying perceptual learning, and the intrinsic nature of speech elements.

Effects of Cognitive Load on the Categorical Perception of Mandarin Tones

2021 ◽  
pp. 1-9
Author(s):  
Yan Feng ◽  
Yaru Meng ◽  
Hanfei Li ◽  
Gang Peng
Keyword(s):  
Cognitive Load ◽  
Categorical Perception ◽  
Load Condition ◽  
Memory Recall ◽  
Chinese Characters ◽  
Lexical Tones ◽  
Graphic Symbols ◽  
Category Discrimination ◽  
Frequency Changes ◽  
The Impact

Purpose This study investigated the effect of cognitive load (CL) on the categorical perception (CP) of Mandarin lexical tones to discuss the application of the generalized pulse-skipping hypothesis. This hypothesis assumes that listeners might miss/skip temporal pulses and lose essential speech information due to CL, which consequently affects both the temporal and spectral dimensions of speech perception. Should CL decrease listeners' pitch sensitivity and impair the distinction of tone categories, this study would support the generalized pulse-skipping hypothesis. Method Twenty-four native Mandarin-speaking listeners were recruited to complete a dual-task experiment where they were required to identify or discriminate tone stimuli while concurrently memorizing six Chinese characters or graphic symbols. A no-load condition without a memory recall task was also included as a baseline condition. The position of categorical boundary, identification slope, between- and within-category discrimination, and discrimination peakedness were compared across the three conditions to measure the impact of CL on tone perception. The recall accuracy of Chinese characters and graphic symbols was used to assess the difficulty of memory recall. Results Compared with the no-load condition, both load conditions showed a boundary shift to Tone 3, shallower identification slope, poorer between-category discrimination, and lower discrimination peakedness. Within-category discrimination was negatively affected by CL in the graphic symbol condition only, not in the Chinese character condition. Conclusions CL degraded listeners' sensitivity to subtle fundamental frequency changes and impaired CP of Mandarin lexical tones. This provides support for the generalized pulse-skipping hypothesis. Besides, the involvement of lexical information modulated the effect of CL.

The development of categorical perception of Mandarin tones in four- to seven-year-old children

2016 ◽  
Vol 44 (6) ◽  
pp. 1413-1434 ◽  
Author(s):  
FEI CHEN ◽  
GANG PENG ◽  
NAN YAN ◽  
LAN WANG
Keyword(s):  
Young Children ◽  
Categorical Perception ◽  
Perceptual Development ◽  
Fine Grained ◽  
Ambient Sound ◽  
Category Discrimination ◽  
High Level ◽  
Mandarin Tones

AbstractTo track the course of development in children's fine-grained perception of Mandarin tones, the present study explored how categorical perception (CP) of Mandarin tones emerges along age among 70 four- to seven-year-old children and 16 adults. Prominent discrimination peaks were found for both the child and the adult groups, and they were well aligned with the corresponding identification crossovers. Moreover, six-year-olds showed a much narrower width (i.e. a sharper slope) compared to younger children, and have already acquired adult-like identification competence of Mandarin high-level and mid-rising tones. Although the ability to discriminate within-category tone pairs did not change, the between-category discrimination accuracies were positively correlated with chronological ages among child participants. We assume that the perceptual refinement of Mandarin tones in young children may be driven by an accumulation of perceptual development from the tonal information of the ambient sound input.

Aging Effects on Categorical Perception of Mandarin Lexical Tones in Noise

2021 ◽  
pp. 1-14
Author(s):  
Yuxia Wang ◽  
Xiaohu Yang ◽  
Hongwei Ding ◽  
Can Xu ◽  
Chang Liu
Keyword(s):  
Categorical Perception ◽  
Signal To Noise Ratio ◽  
Aging Effects ◽  
Signal To Noise ◽  
Lexical Tones ◽  
Tone Recognition ◽  
Ratio Condition ◽  
Mandarin Tones ◽  
Mandarin Tone ◽  
General Tone

Purpose The purpose of this study was to examine the aging effects on the categorical perception (CP) of Mandarin lexical Tones 1–4 and Tones 1–2 in noise. It also investigated whether listeners' categorical tone perception in noise correlated with their general tone identification of 20 natural vowel-plus-tone signals in noise. Method Twelve younger and 12 older listeners with normal hearing were recruited in both tone identification and discrimination tasks in a CP paradigm where fundamental frequency contours of target stimuli varied systematically from the flat tone (Tone 1) to the rising/falling tones (Tones 2/4). Both tasks were conducted in quiet and noise with signal-to-noise ratios set at −5 and −10 dB, respectively, and general tone identification of natural speech signals was also tested in noise conditions. Results Compared with younger listeners, older listeners had shallower identification slopes and smaller discrimination peakedness in Tones 1–2/4 perception in all listening conditions, except for Tones 1–4 perception in quiet where no group differences were found. Meanwhile, noise affected Tones 1–2/4 perception: The signal-to-noise ratio condition at −10 dB brought shallower slope in Tones 1–2/4 identification and less peakedness in Tones 1–4 discrimination for both listener groups. Older listeners' CP in noise, the identification slopes in particular, positively correlated with their general tone identification in noise, but such correlations were partially missing for younger listeners. Conclusions Both aging and the presence of speech-shaped noise significantly reduced the CP of Mandarin Tones 1–2/4. Listeners' Mandarin tone recognition may be related to their CP of Mandarin tones.

Categorical Perception of Pitch Contours and Voice Onset Time in Mandarin-Speaking Adolescents With Autism Spectrum Disorders

2021 ◽  
pp. 1-17
Author(s):  
Fei Chen ◽  
Gang Peng
Keyword(s):  
Autism Spectrum Disorders ◽  
Categorical Perception ◽  
Voice Onset Time ◽  
Digit Span ◽  
Onset Time ◽  
Autism Spectrum ◽  
Language Ability ◽  
Lexical Tones ◽  
Spectrum Disorders ◽  
Adolescents With Asd

Purpose Previous studies have shown enhanced pitch and impaired time perception in individuals with autism spectrum disorders (ASD). However, it remains unclear whether such deviated patterns of auditory processing depending on acoustic dimensions would transfer to the higher level linguistic pitch and time processing. In this study, we compared the categorical perception (CP) of lexical tones and voice onset time (VOT) in Mandarin Chinese, which utilize pitch and time changes, respectively, to convey phonemic contrasts. Method The data were collected from 22 Mandarin-speaking adolescents with ASD and 20 age-matched neurotypical controls. In addition to the identification and discrimination tasks to test CP performance, all the participants were evaluated with their language ability and phonological working memory. Linear mixed-effects models were constructed to evaluate the identification and discrimination scores across different groups and conditions. Results The basic CP pattern of cross-boundary benefit when perceiving both native lexical tones and VOT was largely preserved in high-functioning adolescents with ASD. The degree of CP of lexical tones in ASD was similar to that in typical controls, whereas the degree of CP of VOT in ASD was greatly reduced. Furthermore, the degree of CP of lexical tones correlated with language ability and digit span in ASD participants. Conclusions These findings suggest that the unbalanced acoustic processing capacities for pitch and time can be generalized to the higher level linguistic processing in ASD. Furthermore, the higher degree of CP of lexical tones correlated with better language ability in Mandarin-speaking individuals with ASD.

Electrophysiological evidence of categorical perception of Chinese lexical tones in attentive condition

Neuroreport ◽  
2012 ◽  
Vol 23 (1) ◽  
pp. 35-39 ◽  
Author(s):  
Linjun Zhang ◽  
Jie Xi ◽  
Han Wu ◽  
Hua Shu ◽  
Ping Li
Keyword(s):  
Categorical Perception ◽  
Lexical Tones ◽  
Electrophysiological Evidence

Categorical perception of lexical tones in Chinese revealed by mismatch negativity

Neuroscience ◽  
2010 ◽  
Vol 170 (1) ◽  
pp. 223-231 ◽  
Author(s):  
J. Xi ◽  
L. Zhang ◽  
H. Shu ◽  
Y. Zhang ◽  
P. Li
Keyword(s):  
Mismatch Negativity ◽  
Categorical Perception ◽  
Lexical Tones

scholarly journals The Effects of Intrinsic Acoustic Cues on Categorical Perception in Children with Cochlear Implants

2020 ◽  
Vol 10 (5) ◽  
pp. 110
Author(s):  
Kejuan Cheng ◽  
Xiaoxiang Chen
Keyword(s):  
Cochlear Implants ◽  
Categorical Perception ◽  
Normal Hearing ◽  
Acoustic Cues ◽  
Intrinsic Cues ◽  
Boundary Width ◽  
Hearing Children ◽  
Mandarin Vowels ◽  
Impaired Children

Many previous studies researched the influence of external cues on speech perception, yet little is known pertaining to the role of intrinsic cues in categorical perception of Mandarin vowels and tones by children with cochlear implants (CI). This study investigated the effects of intrinsic acoustic cues on categorical perception in children with CIs, compared to normal-hearing (NH) children. Categorical perception experiment paradigm was applied to evaluate their identification and discrimination abilities in perceiving /i/-/u/ with static intrinsic formants and Tone 1 (T1)-Tone 2 (T2) with dynamic intrinsic fundamental frequency (F0) contours. Results for the NH group showed that vowel continuum of /i/-/u/ was less categorically perceived than T1-T2 continuum with significantly wider boundary width and less alignment between the discrimination peak and the boundary position. However, a different categorical perception pattern was depicted for the CI group. Specifically, the CI group exhibited less categoricalness in both /i/-/u/ and T1-T2. It suggested that the effects of intrinsic acoustic cues on categorical perception was proved for the normal-hearing children, while not for the hearing-impaired children with cochlear implants. In conclusion, acoustically dynamic cues can facilitate categorical perception of speech in NH children, whereas this effect will be inhibited by difficulties in processing spectral F0 information as in the CI users.

Bimodal Benefits Revealed by Categorical Perception of Lexical Tones in Mandarin-Speaking Kindergarteners With a Cochlear Implant and a Contralateral Hearing Aid

2020 ◽  
Vol 63 (12) ◽  
pp. 4238-4251
Author(s):  
Hao Zhang ◽  
Jing Zhang ◽  
Gang Peng ◽  
Hongwei Ding ◽  
Yang Zhang
Keyword(s):  
Categorical Perception ◽  
Hearing Aid ◽  
Low Frequency ◽  
Lexical Tone ◽  
Linear Mixed Effects ◽  
Lexical Tones ◽  
Speech Stimuli ◽  
Direct Benefits ◽  
Hearing Thresholds ◽  
Mandarin Tone

Purpose Pitch reception poses challenges for individuals with cochlear implants (CIs), and adding a hearing aid (HA) in the nonimplanted ear is potentially beneficial. The current study used fine-scale synthetic speech stimuli to investigate the bimodal benefit for lexical tone categorization in Mandarin-speaking kindergarteners using a CI and an HA in opposite ears. Method The data were collected from 16 participants who were required to complete two classical tasks for speech categorical perception (CP) with CI + HA device condition and CI alone condition. Linear mixed-effects models were constructed to evaluate the identification and discrimination scores across different device conditions. Results The bimodal kindergarteners showed CP for the continuum varying from Mandarin Tone 1 and Tone 2. Moreover, the additional acoustic information from the contralateral HA contributes to improved lexical tone categorization, with a steeper slope, a higher discrimination score of between-category stimuli pair, and an improved peakedness score (i.e., an increased benefit magnitude for discriminations of between-category over within-category pairs) for the CI + HA condition than the CI alone condition. The bimodal kindergarteners with better residual hearing thresholds at 250 Hz level in the nonimplanted ear could perceive lexical tones more categorically. Conclusion The enhanced CP results with bimodal listening provide clear evidence for the clinical practice to fit a contralateral HA in the nonimplanted ear in kindergarteners with unilateral CIs with direct benefits from the low-frequency acoustic hearing.

scholarly journals Categorical perception of lexical tones in mandarin-speaking congenital amusics

2015 ◽  
Vol 6 ◽  
Author(s):  
Wan-Ting Huang ◽  
Chang Liu ◽  
Qi Dong ◽  
Yun Nan
Keyword(s):  
Categorical Perception ◽  
Lexical Tones
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