Abstract
PURPOSE: An auditory electrophysiological study was conducted to explore
the influence of language experience on the saliency of dimensions
underlying cortical pitch processing. METHODS: Mismatch negativity
(MMN) responses to Mandarin tones were recorded in Chinese and English
participants (n=10 per group) using a passive oddball paradigm. Stimuli
consisted of three tones (T1: high level; T2: high rising; T3: low
falling-rising). There were three oddball conditions (standard/deviant):
T1/T2, T1/T3, T2/T3. In the T1/T2 and T1/T3 conditions, each tonal
pair represented a contrast between a level and a contour tone; the
T2/T3 condition, a contrast between two contour tones. Twenty dissimilarity
matrices were created using the MMN mean amplitude measured from
the Fz location for each condition per participant, and analyzed
by an individual differences multidimensional scaling model. RESULTS:
Two pitch dimensions were revealed, interpretively labeled as 'height'
and 'contour'. The latter was found to be more important for Chinese
than English subjects. Using individual weights on the contour dimension,
a discriminant function showed that 17 out of 20 participants were
correctly classified into their respective language groups. CONCLUSIONS:
The MMN can serve as an index of pitch features that are differentially
weighted depending on a listener's experience with lexical tones
and their acoustic correlates within a particular tone space.
- acoustic
- interpretation,electroencephalography,evoked
- perception,pitch
- perception:
- physiology,data
- physiology,pitch
- physiology,statistical,language,neuro,perception,pitch,plasticity,tone
- plasticity,neuronal
- plasticity:
- potentials,female,humans,l1,l2,language,male,neuronal
- stimulation,adult,auditory,auditory:
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