Speech production and perception: Learning and memory

The second chapter presents a recent study on real-time feedback perturbation by Eugen Klein, Jana Brunner, and Phil Hoole. They work on inter- and intra-individual variability of adaptation processes during auditory perturbation of vowel formants. Specifically, the authors investigate the influence of experimental task demands – such as the alternating perturbation of the second formant and the consonantal context of the perturbed vowel – on speakers’ compensatory adjustments. Examining the adaptation process with due regard to its temporal dimension, the authors show that its variability is strongly associated with speakers’ exploratory behavior and cannot be exclusively ascribed to the characteristics of speakers’ internal models of speech motor control.

The next three chapters deal with the particular role of motor aspects in learning and memory consolidation. Different populations are investigated. In a review of literature on speech sound errors in people with autism, Louise McKeever, Joanne Cleland and Jonathan Delafield-Butt begin to explore the underlying causes of speech production differences in people with autism. Two major theoretical accounts for the prevalence of speech sound errors are highlighted: the speech attunement framework, and deficits in speech motor control. Both theories provide explanations for how children with autism may come to have difficulty learning to produce speech which is in line with their typically developing peers. The chapter concludes by suggesting that both the speech attunement framework and the theory of impaired speech motor control may be complimentary, rather than competing, theories and suggests further empirical work to test this assertion.

The role of motor aspects is then discussed by Marion Dohen, who provides a comprehensive review of the role of manual gestures in word learning and memorizing. Typically developing children as well as children with specific needs are the focus of this review. The findings from a selection of empirical studies serves for answering general questions about potential advantages, efficiency and types of manual gestures in learning novel words. Motor aspects of manual gestures, i.e. producing an additional gesture during learning is compared with findings where manual gestures are perceived only. Finally, Marion Dohen discusses three potential explanations as to why manual gestures might enhance learning novel words.

In the last twenty years, evidence has been accumulated that sleep may play a major role for memory. Pamela Fuhrmeister reviews some recent work suggesting that memory consolidation during sleep is important for non-native speech sound learning. While factors that influence learning of difficult speech sound contrasts have received a lot of attention in the literature, less is known about how what happens after learning can affect consolidation and retention of newly learned phonetic information. Studies from other domains, such as motor learning, are reviewed, and these suggest that certain tasks that follow training can interfere with consolidation of new information. Hints of these effects can already be found in studies in the speech domain, and the author argues that the sleep and memory consolidation literature should inform future speech research and that future research should consider not only how speech sounds are best learned, but also how they are most optimally consolidated and retained.

Besides the intellectual merit of the authors and reviewers, this book was only possible thanks to the financial support the French-German University (UFA) in Saarbrücken. They supported the publication of the book and the international winter school on “Speech production and perception: Learning and memory” that took place 2017 in Chorin, Germany. Furthermore, parts of the presented work were supported by a grant from the ANR-DFG to the Salammbo project (FU791/8-1). Finally, we would like to acknowledge all reviewers who helped improving clarity and structure of the chapters. We are very delighted that the Crowdfunding Initiative “Knowledge Unlatched” selected our book and allowed it to be open access. Thanks to all the unknown contributors!

References

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Louise McKeever, Joanne Cleland, Jonathan Delafield-Butt (2019). Aetiology of speech sound errors in autism. In S. Fuchs, J. Cleland, & A. Rochet-Capellan (eds.) Speech production and perception: Learning and memory. Frankfurt/M.: Peter Lang GmbH. Internationaler Verlag der Wissenschaften.

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