Abstract
When members of a series of synthesized stop consonants varying in third-formant (F3) characteristics and varying perceptually from /da/ to/ga/ are preceded by /al/, human listeners report hearing more /ga/ syllables than when the members of the series are preceded by /ar/. It has been suggested that this shift in identification is the result of specialized processes that compensate for acoustic consequences of coarticulation. To test the species- specificity of this perceptual phenomenon, data were collected from nonhuman animals in a syllable 'labeling' task. Four Japanese quail (Coturnix coturnix japonica) were trained to peck a key differentially to identify clear /da/ and /ga/ exemplars. After training, ambiguous members of a /da/-/ga/ series were presented in the context of /al/ and /ar/ syllables. Pecking performance demonstrated a shift which coincided with data from humans. These results suggest that processes underlying 'perceptual compensation for coarticulation' are species-general. In addition, the pattern of response behavior expressed is rather common across perceptual systems.
| Original language | English (US) |
|---|---|
| Pages (from-to) | 1134-1140 |
| Number of pages | 7 |
| Journal | Journal of the Acoustical Society of America |
| Volume | 102 |
| Issue number | 2 |
| DOIs | |
| State | Published - Aug 1997 |
| Externally published | Yes |
ASJC Scopus subject areas
- Arts and Humanities (miscellaneous)
- Acoustics and Ultrasonics