| The present research examined the processing (anticipation or integration) and acquisition of coarticulatory information. In Experiment 1, subjects' eye movements to printed syllables were monitored as they heard vowel consonant /s/- and /g/-ending syllables containing appropriate (matching) or inappropriate (mismatching) coarticulation in the vowel. Results showed both an early effect of anticipation, a late effect of integration, and evidence of perceptual ambiguity in the /g/-syllables. Experiment 2 explored acquisition by exposing subjects to mismatching syllables prior to testing. Experiment 2 results showed differences in learning depending on the perceptual salience of the coarticulation: less salient /s/-syllables showed learning of coarticulatory properties, while more salient /g/-syllables showed learning of consonant properties. In sum, the present study supports a speech perception system which utilizes all the variability in the speech signal as it becomes available, and which is constantly adjusted with experience in a way that is most beneficial to the system. |
