Annie C. Gilbert | McGill University (original) (raw)

Theses by Annie C. Gilbert

Mémoire numérisé par la Direction des bibliothèques de l'Université de Montréal

The perceptual chunking of speech: On the nature of temporal grouping and its effect on immediate... more The perceptual chunking of speech: On the nature of temporal grouping and its effect on immediate memory In numerous behaviors involving the learning and production of sequences, temporal groups emerge spontaneously, created by delays or a lengthening of elements. This chunking has been observed across behaviors of both humans and animals and is taken to reflect a general process of perceptual chunking that conforms to capacity limits of shortterm memory. Yet, no research has determined how perceptual chunking applies to speech. We provide a literature review that bears out critical problems, which have hampered research on this question. Consideration of these problems motivates a principled demonstration that aims to show how perceptual chunking applies to speech and the effect of this process on immediate memory (or “working memory”). These two themes are presented in separate papers in the format of journal articles. Paper 1: The perceptual chunking of speech: a demonstration us...

Papers by Annie C. Gilbert

European Journal of Neuroscience

Despite the importance of prosodic processing in utterance parsing, a majority of studies investi... more Despite the importance of prosodic processing in utterance parsing, a majority of studies investigating boundary localization in a second language focus on word segmentation. The goal of the present study was to investigate the parsing of phrase boundaries in first and second languages from different prosodic typologies (stress‐timed vs. syllable‐timed). Fifty English‐French bilingual adults who varied in native language (French or English) and second language proficiency listened to English and French utterances with different prosodic structures while event‐related brain potentials were recorded. The utterances were built around target words presented either in phrase‐final position (bearing phrase‐final lengthening) or in penultimate position. Each participant listened to both English and French stimuli, providing data in their native language (used as reference) and their second language. Target words in phrase‐final position elicited closure positive shifts across listeners in ...

Trends in Hearing, 2023

Auditory memory is an important everyday skill evaluated more and more frequently in clinical set... more Auditory memory is an important everyday skill evaluated more and more frequently in clinical settings as there is recently a greater recognition of the cost of hearing loss to cognitive systems. Testing often involves reading a list of unrelated items aloud; but prosodic variations in pitch and timing across the list can affect the number of items remembered. Here, we ran a series of online studies on normally-hearing participants to provide normative data (with a larger and more diverse population than the typical student sample) on a novel protocol characterizing the effects of suprasegmental properties in speech, namely investigating pitch patterns, fast and slow pacing, and interactions between pitch and time grouping. In addition to free recall, and in line with our desire to work eventually with individuals exhibiting more limited cognitive capacity, we included a cued recall task to help participants recover specifically the words forgotten during the free recall part. We replicated key findings from previous research, demonstrating the benefits of slower pacing and of grouping on free recall. However, only slower pacing led to better performance on cued recall, indicating that grouping effects may decay surprisingly fast (over a matter of one minute) compared to the effect of slowed pacing. These results provide a benchmark for future comparisons of short-term recall performance in hearing-impaired listeners and users of cochlear implants.

Frontiers in Psychology

Research on bilingualism has grown exponentially in recent years. However, the comprehension of s... more Research on bilingualism has grown exponentially in recent years. However, the comprehension of speech in noise, given the ubiquity of both bilingualism and noisy environments, has seen only limited focus. Electroencephalogram (EEG) studies in monolinguals show an increase in alpha power when listening to speech in noise, which, in the theoretical context where alpha power indexes attentional control, is thought to reflect an increase in attentional demands. In the current study, English/French bilinguals with similar second language (L2) proficiency and who varied in terms of age of L2 acquisition (AoA) from 0 (simultaneous bilinguals) to 15 years completed a speech perception in noise task. Participants were required to identify the final word of high and low semantically constrained auditory sentences such as “Stir your coffee with a spoon” vs. “Bob could have known about the spoon” in both of their languages and in both noise (multi-talker babble) and quiet during electrophysiol...

Brain and Language, 2021

We examined lexical stress processing in English-French bilinguals. Auditory mismatch negativity ... more We examined lexical stress processing in English-French bilinguals. Auditory mismatch negativity (MMN) responses were recorded in response to English and French pseudowords, whose primary stress occurred either on a language-consistent "usual" or language-inconsistent "unusual" syllable. In most conditions, the pseudowords elicited two consecutive MMNs, and somewhat surprisingly, these MMNs were not systematically modulated by bilingual experience. This suggests that it is possible to achieve native-like pre-attentive processing of lexical stress, even in a language that one has not learned since birth.

Frontiers in Psychology

Previous studies of word segmentation in a second language have yielded equivocal results. This i... more Previous studies of word segmentation in a second language have yielded equivocal results. This is not surprising given the differences in the bilingual experience and proficiency of the participants and the varied experimental designs that have been used. The present study tried to account for a number of relevant variables to determine if bilingual listeners are able to use native-like word segmentation strategies. Here, 61 French-English bilingual adults who varied in L1 (French or English) and language dominance took part in an audiovisual integration task while event-related brain potentials (ERPs) were recorded. Participants listened to sentences built around ambiguous syllable strings (which could be disambiguated based on different word segmentation patterns), during which an illustration was presented on screen. Participants were asked to determine if the illustration was related to the heard utterance or not. Each participant listened to both English and French utterances,...

Bilingualism: Language and Cognition, 2020

Although bilinguals benefit from semantic context while perceiving speech-in-noise in their nativ... more Although bilinguals benefit from semantic context while perceiving speech-in-noise in their native language (L1), the extent to which bilinguals benefit from semantic context in their second language (L2) is unclear. Here, 57 highly proficient English–French/French–English bilinguals, who varied in L2 age of acquisition, performed a speech-perception-in-noise task in both languages while event-related brain potentials were recorded. Participants listened to and repeated the final word of sentences high or low in semantic constraint, in quiet and with a multi-talker babble mask. Overall, our findings indicate that bilinguals do benefit from semantic context while perceiving speech-in-noise in both their languages. Simultaneous bilinguals showed evidence of processing semantic context similarly to monolinguals. Early sequential bilinguals recruited additional neural resources, suggesting more effective use of semantic context in L2, compared to late bilinguals. Semantic context use wa...

Applied Psycholinguistics, 2020

Despite the multifactorial space of language experience in which people continuously vary, biling... more Despite the multifactorial space of language experience in which people continuously vary, bilinguals are often dichotomized into ostensibly homogeneous groups. The timing of language exposure (age of acquisition) to a second language (L2) is one well-studied construct that is known to impact language processing, cognitive processing, and brain organization, but recent work shows that current language exposure is also a crucial determinant in these domains. Critically, many indices of bilingual experience are inherently subjective and based on self-report questionnaires. Such measures have been criticized in favor of objective measures of language ability (e.g., naming ability or verbal fluency). Here, we estimate the bilingual experience jointly as a function of multiple continuous aspects of experience, including the timing of language exposure, the amount of L2 exposure across communicative contexts, and language entropy (a flexible measure of language balance) across communicati...

Bilingualism: Language and Cognition

The psycholinguistic literature suggests that the length of a to-be-spoken phrase impacts the sco... more The psycholinguistic literature suggests that the length of a to-be-spoken phrase impacts the scope of speech planning, as reflected by different patterns of speech onset latencies. However, it is unclear whether such findings extend to first and second language (L1, L2) speech planning. Here, the same bilingual adults produced multi-phrase numerical equations (i.e., with natural break points) and single-phrase numbers (without natural break points) in their L1 and L2. For single-phrase utterances, both L1 and L2 were affected by L2 exposure. For multi-phrase utterances, L1 scope of planning was similar to what has been previously reported for monolinguals; however, L2 scope of planning exhibited variable patterns as a function of individual differences in L2 exposure. Thus, the scope of planning among bilinguals varies as a function of the complexity of their utterances: specifically, by whether people are speaking in their L1 or L2, and bilingual language experience.

Brain and Language, 2020

Learning a second language (L2) at a young age is a driving factor of functional neuroplasticity ... more Learning a second language (L2) at a young age is a driving factor of functional neuroplasticity in the auditory brainstem. To date, it remains unclear whether these effects remain stable until adulthood and to what degree the amount of exposure to the L2 in early childhood might affect their outcome. We compared three groups of adult English-French bilinguals in their ability to categorize English vowels in relation to their frequency following responses (FFR) evoked by the same vowels. At the time of testing, cognitive abilities as well as fluency in both languages were matched between the (1) simultaneous bilinguals (SIM, N = 18); (2) sequential bilinguals with L1-English (N = 14); and (3) sequential bilinguals with L1-French (N = 11). Our results show that the L1-English group show sharper category boundaries in identification of the vowels compared to the L1-French group. Furthermore, the same pattern was reflected in the FFRs (i.e., larger FFR responses in L1-English > SIM > L1-French), while again only the difference between the L1-English and the L1-French group was statistically significant; nonetheless, there was a trend towards larger FFR in SIM compared to L1-French. Our data extends previous literature showing that exposure to a language during the first years of life induces functional neuroplasticity in the auditory brainstem that remains stable until at least young adulthood. Furthermore, the findings suggest that amount of exposure (i.e., 100% vs. 50%) to that language does not differentially shape the robustness of the perceptual abilities or the auditory brainstem encoding of phonetic categories of the language. Statement of significance: Previous studies have indicated that early age of L2 acquisition induces functional neuroplasticity in the auditory brainstem during processing of the L2. This study compared three groups of adult bilinguals who differed in their age of L2 acquisition as well as the amount of exposure to the L2 during early childhood. We demonstrate for the first time that the neuroplastic effect in the brainstem remains stable until young adulthood and that the amount of L2 exposure does not influence behavioral or brainstem plasticity. Our study provides novel insights into low-level auditory plasticity as a function of varying bilingual experience.

The Journal of the Acoustical Society of America

Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience

Studies that use measures of cerebro-acoustic coherence have shown that theta oscillations (3–10 ... more Studies that use measures of cerebro-acoustic coherence have shown that theta oscillations (3–10 Hz) entrain to syllable-size modulations in the energy envelope of speech. This entrainment creates sensory windows in processing acoustic cues. Recent reports submit that delta oscillations (<3 Hz) can be entrained by nonsensory content units like phrases and serve to process meaning—though such views face fundamental problems. Other studies suggest that delta underlies a sensory chunking linked to the processing of sequential attributes of speech sounds. This chunking associated with the “focus of attention” is commonly manifested by the temporal grouping of items in sequence recall. Similar grouping in speech may entrain delta. We investigate this view by examining how low-frequency oscillations entrain to three types of stimuli (tones, nonsense syllables, and utterances) having similar timing, pitch, and energy contours. Entrainment was indexed by “intertrial phase coherence” in t...

Frontiers in Psychology, 2018

Why does symbolic communication in humans develop primarily in an oral medium, and how do theorie... more Why does symbolic communication in humans develop primarily in an oral medium, and how do theories of language origin explain this? Non-human primates, despite their ability to learn and use symbolic signs, do not develop symbols as in oral language. This partly owes to the lack of a direct cortico-motoneuron control of vocalizations in these species compared to humans. Yet such modality-related factors that can impinge on the rise of symbolic language are interpreted differently in two types of evolutionary storylines. (1) Some theories posit that symbolic language originated in a gestural modality, as in "sign languages." However, this overlooks work on emerging sign and spoken languages showing that gestures and speech shape signs differently. (2) In modality-dependent theories, some emphasize the role of iconic sounds, though these lack the efficiency of arbitrary symbols. Other theorists suggest that ontogenesis serves to identify human-specific mechanisms underlying an evolutionary shift from pitch varying to orally modulated vocalizations (babble). This shift creates numerous oral features that can support efficient symbolic associations. We illustrate this principle using a sound-picture association task with 40 learners who hear words in an unfamiliar language (Mandarin) with and without a filtering of oral features. Symbolic associations arise more rapidly and accurately for sounds containing oral features compared to sounds bearing only pitch features, an effect also reported in experiments with infants. The results imply that, beyond a competence to learn and use symbols, the rise of symbolic language rests on the types of signs that a modality of expression affords.

Brain Research, 2015

In tasks involving the learning of verbal or non-verbal sequences, groupings are spontaneously pr... more In tasks involving the learning of verbal or non-verbal sequences, groupings are spontaneously produced. These groupings are generally marked by a lengthening of final elements and have been attributed to a domain-general perceptual chunking linked to working memory. Yet, no study has shown how this domain-general chunking applies to speech processing, partly because of the traditional view that chunking involves a conceptual recoding of meaningful verbal items like words (Miller, 1956). The present study provides a demonstration of the perceptual chunking of speech by way of two experiments using evoked Positive Shifts (PSs), which capture on-line neural responses to marks of various groups. We observed listeners׳ response to utterances (Experiment 1) and meaningless series of syllables (Experiment 2) containing changing intonation and temporal marks, while also examining how these marks affect the recognition of heard items. The results show that, across conditions - and irrespective of the presence of meaningful items - PSs are specifically evoked by groups marked by lengthening. Moreover, this on-line detection of marks corresponds to characteristic grouping effects on listeners&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;#39; immediate recognition of heard items, which suggests chunking effects linked to working memory. These findings bear out a perceptual chunking of speech input in terms of groups marked by lengthening, which constitute the defining marks of a domain-general chunking.

Frontiers in Psychology : Language Sciences, 2014

We examined how perceptual chunks of varying size in utterances can influence immediate memory of... more We examined how perceptual chunks of varying size in utterances can influence immediate memory of heard items (monosyllabic words). Using behavioral measures and event-related potentials (N400) we evaluated the quality of the memory trace for targets taken from perceived temporal groups (TGs) of three and four items.Variations in the amplitude of the N400 showed a better memory trace for items presented in TGs of three compared to those in groups of four. Analyses of behavioral responses along with P300 components also revealed effects of chunk position in the utterance.This is the ﬁrst study to measure the online effects of perceptual chunks on the memory trace of spoken items. Taken together, the N400 and P300 responses demonstrate that the perceptual chunking of speech facilitates information buffering and a processing on a chunk-by-chunk basis.

Peer reviewed proceedings by Annie C. Gilbert

Speech Prosody 2016, 2016

An extensive body of research on word segmentation across languages has shown that different lang... more An extensive body of research on word segmentation across languages has shown that different languages rely on different cues and strategies to segment meaningful units from the speech stream. These cross-language differences make segmentation difficult for L2 learners, and some previous work showed that bilingual speakers tend to keep applying their L1 segmentation cues to the L2. But bilingual experience varies a great deal, even within a bilingual community, so one might ask if such a pattern applies across all bilinguals regardless of language proficiency, dominance, or everyday use. To investigate this, we designed a cross-modal priming task in which a wide range of English-French bilinguals listened to English and French sentences with ambiguous syllable strings containing either two monosyllabic words (e.g. key we) or one bisyllabic word (e.g. kiwi), produced with context-specific natural prosody. A picture prompt representing either the first monosyllabic word (e.g. a key), or the bisyllabic word (e.g. a kiwi) was presented at the offset of the first syllable of the ambiguous region. Each sentence was presented paired with each picture. Preliminary analyses of a subgroup of English-dominant participants show that they process French and English ambiguous strings differently, and that their segmentation schemes seem to vary with L2 proficiency.

Proceedings of Speech Prosody 2016, 2016

An extensive body of research on word segmentation has shown that different languages rely on dif... more An extensive body of research on word segmentation has shown that different languages rely on different cues and strategies to segment meaningful units from the speech stream. These cross-language differences make segmentation difficult for L2 learners, and some previous work showed that bilingual speakers tend to keep applying their L1 segmentation cues to the L2. But bilingual experience varies a great deal, even within bilingual communities, so one might ask if such a pattern applies across all bilinguals regardless of language proficiency, dominance, or everyday use. To investigate this, we designed a cross-modal priming task in which a wide range of English-French bilinguals listened to English and French sentences with ambiguous syllable strings containing either two monosyllabic words (e.g. key we) or one bisyllabic word (e.g. kiwi), produced with context-specific natural prosody. A picture prompt representing either the first monosyllabic word (a key), or the bisyllabic word (a kiwi) was presented at the offset of the first syllable of the ambiguous region. Each sentence was presented paired with each picture. Preliminary analyses of a subgroup of English dominant participants show that they process French and English ambiguous strings differently, and that their segmentation schemes seem to vary with L2 proficiency.

Proceedings of the XXVIIth Annual Conference of the Cognitive Science Society, 2005

This study investigates the correspondence between memory of stress rhythms in the context of a s... more This study investigates the correspondence between memory of stress rhythms in the context of a serial recall task and the organization of stress patterns in meaningful utterances. French speakers; (n = 40) reproduction of stress patterns in recalling series of syllables with stress groups of differing size shows a floor effect for groups that exceed four syllables. A second experiment where the Ss (n = 39) produced utterances with phrases of differing length indicates a strong tendency to insert stress marks in phrases that exceed four syllables. Taken together, the findings provide an initial demonstration that memory for prosodic patterns can be an organizational factor of prosody in speech.

Mémoire numérisé par la Direction des bibliothèques de l'Université de Montréal

European Journal of Neuroscience

Trends in Hearing, 2023

Frontiers in Psychology

Brain and Language, 2021

Frontiers in Psychology

Bilingualism: Language and Cognition, 2020

Applied Psycholinguistics, 2020

Bilingualism: Language and Cognition

Brain and Language, 2020

The Journal of the Acoustical Society of America

Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience

Frontiers in Psychology, 2018

Brain Research, 2015

Frontiers in Psychology : Language Sciences, 2014

Speech Prosody 2016, 2016

Proceedings of Speech Prosody 2016, 2016

Proceedings of the XXVIIth Annual Conference of the Cognitive Science Society, 2005

Proceedings of the 6th International Conference on Speech Prosody, 2012

It is established that temporal grouping or "chunking" arises in serial recall as it does in spee... more It is established that temporal grouping or "chunking" arises in serial recall as it does in speech. For instance, chunking appears in common tasks like remembering series such as phone numbers. In the present study, we examine how detected chunks in meaningless strings of syllables and meaningful utterances influence memory. We use a Sternberg task where listeners identify whether a heard item was part of a presented context. Such tasks serve to explore if working memory operates in terms of chunks and is influenced by meaning. Observations using evoked potentials ensured that chunks in the heard stimuli were detected by the 20 listeners. The results showed that, for meaningless series, chunk size and position significantly affected listeners' recall and their response times. However, there were no such effects for meaningful utterances. This suggests that memory of novel series operates by chunks. But in dealing with sequences of items that are already in long-term store, chunks may not have a dominant influence on working memory.

In tasks involving spoken language comprehension, prosodic cues serve as a guide to correct lingu... more In tasks involving spoken language comprehension, prosodic cues serve as a guide to correct linguistic processing. In a statement, for instance, a set of prosodic cues is used to segment and organize speech into intonational phrases (IP) and phonological utterances (U). Though these two highest prosodic constituents are delimited by the same set of cues, their respective boundaries coincide with different syntactic boundaries. The present study investigated phonetic differences between boundaries associated with these constituents and aimed to provide evidence of detection of these differences by way of an ERP experiment examining Closure Positive Shifts (CPS). The results revealed prosodic cue differences between IP and U boundaries, as reflected in acoustic parameters. CPSs were elicited in response to processing of these boundaries that were modulated as a function of the prosodic cue differences between them. This result is further evidence that, in speech comprehension, listene...

Proceedings of the Speech …, 2010

This study examines, via evoked potentials called closurepositive-shifts (CPSs), how listeners se... more This study examines, via evoked potentials called closurepositive-shifts (CPSs), how listeners segment heard utterances on-line. The aim was to determine whether marks of rhythm groups in heard utterances can evoke CPSs independent of varying intonation and syntactic structures. Ten subjects were presented with sets of utterances bearing changing intonation and syntax and the results show that CPS is specifically evoked by marks of RGs.

Though tests of working memory (WM) correlate with scales of language development, it is unclear ... more Though tests of working memory (WM) correlate with scales of language development, it is unclear how WM capacity relates to spoken-language processing. However, Gilbert et al. (2014) have shown that listeners perceptually chunk speech in temporal groups (TGs) and that the span these TGs influences memory of heard items. Assuming that WM capacity links to this processing of speech in groups, listeners with the highest WM spans would be better at recalling items from long TGs. To examine this, we presented two sets of stimuli (utterances and sequences of meaningless syllables) containing long TGs. After each stimuli, listeners had to determine if a target item was previously heard. An analysis using GLME models showed that correct recognition memory of items heard in utterances was significantly better for listeners with high WM spans than for listeners with smaller spans. The effect was marginally significant for sequences of nonsense syllables.

18th International Congress of Phonetic Sciences, 2015

Proceedings of the ISCA Tutorial and Research Workshop on Experimental Linguistics 2008, 2008

We address the problem of defining universal processes of speech segmentation in view of criticis... more We address the problem of defining universal processes of speech segmentation in view of criticisms that conceptual linguistic units derive from western writing. A synthesis of our recent experimental studies is presented bearing on processes of serial-order and rhythmic grouping. First, on how serial-order operates, we use EMG and speech-motion data to show that "consonant-vowel" orders reflect contractionrelaxation cycles (not separate segments). Second, on how sequences of sounds come to form units in language learning, we discuss behavioural data suggesting a link between rhythm groups in speech and grouping effects on memory of speech sounds. Preliminary EEG data is then presented to substantiate the view of an online parsing of rhythm groups with effects on memory traces of lexemes.

Proceedings of the 8th Tutorial and Research Workshop on Experimental Linguistics, 2017

Adapting one’s production of prosodic cues to a second or non-dominant language can be difficult.... more Adapting one’s production of prosodic cues to a second or non-dominant language can be difficult. The present study focuses on French-English bilinguals’ ability to adapt their prosody to coordinate phrase-final lengthening and lexical stress. Because French has no lexically-coded prosody, it might be difficult for French dominant speakers to simultaneously control lexical and phrasal prosodic cues. Our preliminary results demonstrate that not only the speaker’s L1, but the relative dominance of one language over another can predict speakers’ ability to adapt prosody to the specific demands of different languages, at least with respect to controlling syllable duration. These findings are in line with recent results showing that native French listeners do not process lexical stress automatically, instead relying on alternative perceptual mechanisms.

ExLing 2017: Proceedings of 8th Tutorial and Research Workshop on Experimental Linguistics, Dec 1, 2019

Adapting one's production of prosodic cues to a second or non-dominant language can be difficult.... more Adapting one's production of prosodic cues to a second or non-dominant language can be difficult. The present study focuses on French-English bilinguals' ability to adapt their prosody to coordinate phrase-final lengthening and lexical stress. Because French has no lexically-coded prosody, it might be difficult for Frenchdominant speakers to simultaneously control lexical and phrasal prosodic cues. Our preliminary results demonstrate that not only the speaker's L1, but the relative dominance of one language over another can predict speakers' ability to adapt prosody to the specific demands of different languages, at least with respect to controlling syllable duration. These findings are in line with recent results showing that native French listeners do not process lexical stress automatically, instead relying on alternative perceptual mechanisms.

Proceedings of the Speech Prosody 2008 Conference, 2008

Since speech involves fleeting acoustic events some portions of heard utterances must be parsed a... more Since speech involves fleeting acoustic events some portions of heard utterances must be parsed and stored on-line in order to be interpreted. Our previous work has shown that in recalling novel series, rhythmic grouping of up to 4 syllables facilitates memory, and this corresponds to size limits on rhythm groups observed in speech. Such results suggest that prosodic groups can correspond to the natural parsing frameworks of memory processing. The present study further investigates this correspondence by means of an event-related potential technique. It has been established that the quality of memory traces of words is associated with variations in the amplitude of the N400 component. We show that variations in the amplitude of the N400 confirm for one subject that words presented in rhythm groups that do not exceed a 4syllable limit present a better quality of memory trace than words presented in groups of 5 syllables, which rarely occur in speech and do not facilitate recall. Though the present observations are preliminary, our results converge on the point that prosodic grouping can be linked to mnemonic processes and that restrictions on memory may underlie size limits on prosodic groups.

The Journal of the Acoustical Society of America, 2005

Size‐constraints on intonation groups in speech: Evidence of an independent syllable‐count princi... more Size‐constraints on intonation groups in speech: Evidence of an independent syllable‐count principle. [The Journal of the Acoustical Society of America 117, 2458 (2005)]. Annie C. Gilbert, Victor J. Boucher. Abstract. This poster ...

… of the 3rd International Conference on …, 2006

While the role and origin of prosodic structures remain unclear, there is evidence that prosody b... more While the role and origin of prosodic structures remain unclear, there is evidence that prosody bears an intriguing relationship with serial memory processes and grouping effects. This link is seen in the fact that the recall of presented prosodic patterns and their production in speech are both restricted in term of a syllable count. The present experiment complements previous studies by examining the effects of syntactic structure as opposed to constituent length on produced tonal groups. Forty subjects produced, in quasispontaneous conditions, given utterances with differing NP, VP structures or differing lengths. The results show that constituent length is the major predictor, whereas syntactic structure appears as a secondary factor.

Proceedings of International Conferences of Experimental Linguistics, 2019

Research on the sensory entrainment of neural oscillations provides a novel way of understanding ... more Research on the sensory entrainment of neural oscillations provides a novel way of understanding how the brain processes spoken language without postulates of interim linguistic units. Several reports have shown that oscillations in the theta range (3-10 Hz) are entrained by syllable-size modulations in the energy envelope of speech. This entrainment has recently been shown to provide sensory frames in processing feature-related cues. A similar perspective has been applied to delta waves (< 3 Hz). Thus, it is suggested that delta entrains to long ("sentence"-size) energy contours, and this would provide processing frames involved in utterance comprehension. The present paper adopts a different viewpoint based on our previous work showing that delta-size perceptual chunks in speech relate to an online sensory memory of sequential information. We used electro-encephalography (EEG) to monitor listeners (n=18) on-line responses to utterance stimuli with controlled patterns of energy, pitch, and temporal marks. Measures of inter-trial phase coherence in neural oscillations show that delta specifically entrains to temporal chunks in the stimuli. This supports a view that delta is not entrained by sentence-size patterns but by perceptual chunks which provide sensory frames in processing incoming sequential information in heard speech.

Proceedings of the 8th Tutorial and Research Workshop on Experimental Linguistics, 2017

Research on the sensory entrainment of neural oscillations provides a novel way of understanding ... more Research on the sensory entrainment of neural oscillations provides a novel way of understanding how the brain processes spoken language without postulates of interim linguistic units. Several reports have shown that oscillations in the theta range (3-10 Hz) are entrained by syllable-size modulations in the energy envelope of speech. This entrainment has recently been shown to provide sensory frames in processing feature-related cues. A similar perspective has been applied to delta waves (< 3 Hz). Thus, it is suggested that delta entrains to long (“sentence”-size) energy contours, and this would provide processing frames involved in utterance comprehension. The present paper adopts a different viewpoint based on our previous work showing that delta-size perceptual chunks in speech relate to an online sensory memory of sequential information. We used electro-encephalography (EEG) to monitor listeners (n=18) on-line responses to utterance stimuli with controlled patterns of energy, pitch, and temporal marks. Measures of inter-trial phase coherence in neural oscillations show that delta specifically entrains to temporal chunks in the stimuli. This supports a view that delta is not entrained by sentence-size patterns but by perceptual chunks which provide sensory frames in processing incoming sequential information in heard speech.

3rd Advanced Voice Function Assessment International Workshop, 2009

“Vocal fatigue” is associated with excessive voice use and reflects a condition that can lead to ... more “Vocal fatigue” is associated with excessive voice use and reflects a condition that can lead to vocal-fold lesions. We present a two-part synthesis of our findings on the physiological and acoustic effects of vocal effort. In this first part, we report on the results of an experiment showing that, contrary to received views, vocal effort causes fatigue in laryngeal muscles, which can be observed via a technique of electromyography (EMG). The finding of this objective physiological sign of voice fatigue was used as a criterion in identifying related vocal changes that bear on the risk of developing lesions.

3rd Advanced Voice Function Assessment International Workshop, 2009

“Vocal fatigue” is associated with excessive voice use and reflects a condition that can lead to ... more “Vocal fatigue” is associated with excessive voice use and reflects a condition that can lead to vocal-fold lesions. We present a two-part synthesis of our findings on the physiological and acoustic effects of vocal effort. In this second part, we summarize the results of two experiments. The first shows that peaks of vocal tremor are specifically caused by vocal effort rather than by factors of general fatigue. The second experiment uses electromyography (EMG) to show how fatigue creates compensatory contractions in laryngeal muscles. These changes explain why it is that voice tremor can peak and stabilize but nonetheless reflects increasing stiffness of tissues and a risk of lesions.

Proceeding of The 17th International Congress of Phonetic Sciences, 2011

Our presentation summarizes evidence showing that listeners chunk speech in terms of rhythm group... more Our presentation summarizes evidence showing that listeners chunk speech in terms of rhythm groups. We discuss previous work involving both behavioral and EEG observations, which suggest an on-line segmentation of speech in rhythmic groups. A brief experiment is presented that further supports the view that statistical learning effects operate by reference to rhythmic chunks.

Eighth Annual Conference of the …, 2007

This study examines how heard prosodic patterns are parsed by reference to a principle of focus o... more This study examines how heard prosodic patterns are parsed by reference to a principle of focus of attention . According to this principle, attention holds up to four items at once, and the same upper limit appears to apply to the number of syllables in rhythm groups . On this basis it was predicted that in recalling heard prosodic structures, listeners would attend primarily to rhythm groups. 31 Ss were asked to recall the prosody of heard series of [pa] bearing various intonation groups and repetitive or varying rhythms. Exp. 1 showed how the focus of attention can shift when rhythm patterns are repetitive. However, Exp. 2 showed that listeners focus on rhythm when patterns vary (as in speech). The results bear implications on explaining the role of prosodic groups in speech.