Exploring the role of coarticulation in speech perception: Anticipation, integration, and acquisition

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.