Vocal Learning part II

Question 1

Kuhl and Meltzoff (1996)

Answer 1

• first language learning
• infants learn to pronounce vowels by imitation
• looked at developmental vowel production at 12, 16 and 20 weeks old
• during this stage, articulators change to slowly become more ‘adult-like’
• role of vocal imitation unknown
• tested 72 infants, 24 per age-group
• three vowels used
• utterances phonetically transcribed
• 63/72 produced at least one utterance
• utterances acoustically analysed - formants were measured
• found that as get older, there is less overlap between vowel sounds
• progression over 3 age groups - vowel space becomes more widespread
• • could have happened anyway… or are they imitating
• positive attitudes towards matching - evolutionary adaption to be more appealing to parents?

Question 2

Action imitation in the general sense

Answer 2

• being imitated (undetected) increases: rapport, feelings of closeness, altruistic behaviour, and trust
• positive attitudes towards a conversation partner result in increased imitation
• both imitating and being imitated result in decreased rapport
  not convincingly shown for speech

Question 3

Vocal imitation and social bonding

Answer 3

Conversation partners spontaneously imitate: intonation patterns, speech style, clarity of speech, speech rate, loudness of speech and regional accent

Question 4

Delvaux and Soquet (2007)

Answer 4

• auditory exposure to accented speech only makes people imitate this accent
• adults spontaneously and unintentionally imitate speech patterns
• exposure to two Belgian-French accents
• Leige and Brussels participant groups
• exposure to accent changed participants vowel production towards that accent
• effect lasted for 10 minutes
• convergence and divergence
• central principal called attunement
• behavioural - attune accent towards someone that you are attracted to, or want to be more like

Question 5

Pardo et al. (2012)

Answer 5

• 5 pairs of previously unacquainted male roommates recorded at 4 time intervals during the academic year
• phonetic convergence was assessed using a perceptual similarity test and measures of vowel spectra - sentences chosen were phonologically diverse and exhibited variation across US accent regions
• distinct patterns of phonetic convergence during the academic year across roommate pairs
• perceptual detection of convergence varied for different linguistic items
• phonetic convergence varied for different linguistic items
• phonetic convergence in college roommates is variable and related to the strength of the relationship
• most convergence before Christmas break, which was when they also liked each other the best, but lots of variation in conference - would converge on different words

Question 6

Grush (2004)

Answer 6

• theory: imitation is the cognitive mechanism supporting effective action understanding
• emulators: error signals running parallel wight eh signal and that generate hypotheses of future actions, improving perception of these actions
• prediction - if emulation account applies for comprehension of speech in noise, then increasing emulation processes should also improve speech comprehension

Question 7

Adank et al (2009)

Answer 7

• accented speech - familiarity with an accent facilitates understanding of that accent in noise
• if you imitate the accent, then you will adapt to it - can train someone to adapt more?
• believed that vocal imitation will support comprehension of accented speech in noise
• tested with fake accent of Dutch - no speaker accent confound and listeners equally familiar

1. test before any training (see how much background noise can tolerate)
2. train: vocal imitation, vocal imitation and noise, speaking, extra attention, exposure to accent and training
3. test again

• found that vocal imitation of accented speech leads to better comprehension of that accent in noise
• control groups rule out other explanations
• therefore, vocal imitation during conversations support effective communication

Question 8

Mercado et al. (2014)

Answer 8

• normally, vocal imitation is described as a specialist form of learning that uses social communication and involves less cognitively sophisticated mechanisms compared to perceptual mechanisms
• this study looks at an alternative perspective
• used adult mammals - and vocal imitation may not lead to learning, and can involve a wide range of cog. processes
• therefore sound imitation capacities may have evolved in certain species such as cetaceans and humans to enhance the perception of ongoing actions and the prediction of future events (not for mate attraction or formation of social bonds)
• ability of adults to voluntarily imitate sounds may be a cog skill, not a learning mechanism
• use perceptual motor and cog. skills

Question 9

Adank et al (2013)

Answer 9

• people in conversation tend to accommodate the way that they speak
• we have a tendency to imitate one another’s speech patterns, increasing liking
• vocal imitation increases perceived physical attraction (previous research)
• pps listened to sentences spoken by two speakers of regional accents e.g. Glasweigan
• vocally repeated in own accent
• then imitated sentences spoken by a second Glasweigan speaker (counter balanced)
• imitating had a positive effect on perceived social attractiveness of speaker compared to repeating
• communication accommodation theory

Question 10

Adank et al. (2010)

Answer 10

• Chen (1998) - humans often imitate each other in social interactions e.g. manual gestures, facial expressions ect.
• created a non-existent accent
• pps had to listen, repeat, transcribe, imitate, imitate in noise
• baseline was significantly lower than imitation and imitation plus noise group
• imitation causes an improvement
• paying attention to phonetic and phonological variation does not cause improvement, but vocal imitation itself is essential
• imitate motor involvement helps perceivers anticipate other peoples actions better by generating forward models
• imitation may aid social interaction by streamlining action understanding between partners