#3503. Neural responses in novice learners’ perceptual learning and generalization of lexical tones: The effect of training variability

October 2026publication date
Proposal available till 27-05-2025
4 total number of authors per manuscript0 $

The title of the journal is available only for the authors who have already paid for
Journal’s subject area:
Linguistics and Language;
Language and Linguistics;
Speech and Hearing;
Experimental and Cognitive Psychology;
Cognitive Neuroscience;
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Abstract:
The acoustics of lexical tones are highly variable across talkers, and require second-language (L2) learners’ flexibility in accommodating talker-specific tonal variations for successful learning. A passive oddball paradigm tested participants’ neural responses to language low–high and low-mid tonal contrasts in the pretest and posttest. Participants were trained using a tone identification task with feedback, either with high or low talker-variability. The results of mismatch negativity (MMN) showed no group difference in the pretest whereas the high-variability group demonstrated greater neural sensitivity to the low–high tonal contrast produced by a novel talker and a trained talker in the posttest. The finding provides novel evidence that training variability may benefit perceptual learning of the relatively easy tone pair and facilitate the formation of talker-independent representations of non-native tones by novice learners.
Keywords:
Late discrimination negativity; Mismatch negativity; Perceptual learning; Talker generalization; Training variability

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