Foreign Accent Perception
Foreign Accent Perception

Author: Agnieszka Bryla-Cruz

Publisher: Cambridge Scholars Publishing

Published: 2016-04-26

Total Pages: 297

ISBN-13: 1443892017

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The phenomenon of foreign accents and their perception have received considerable attention from pronunciation specialists and academic researchers working within different fields of study, such as phonetics, phonology, foreign language teaching, sociolinguistics, psycholinguistics, social psychology, anthropology, and even law. The reason for this widespread interdisciplinary interest is caused by the fact that, in addition to revealing the speaker’s origin, accent carries significant social connotations and evokes various ethnic, racial, religious and socio-economic stereotypes. This book represents the largest, up-to-date qualitative and quantitative investigation into the accentedness, acceptability, intelligibility and comprehensibility of Polish English of three groups of native speakers, the English, the Irish and the Scottish, comparing the ways in which it is perceived by members of three nations and establishing pronunciation priorities. The book will be of interest not only to phoneticians, pronunciation specialists and sociolinguists, but also to EFL teachers and students.

Second Language Speech Processing
Second Language Speech Processing

Author: Isabelle Darcy

Publisher: Taylor & Francis

Published: 2024-09-02

Total Pages: 301

ISBN-13: 1040104339

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This book is the first hands-on roadmap for conducting rigorous experimental research on second language speech processing and spoken word recognition. Isabelle Darcy expertly defines key concepts and offers a detailed step-by-step guide to designing empirical psycholinguistic research in this complex, interdisciplinary area. The book covers the following: setting up an efficient workflow to enhance reproducibility of findings; determining a methodology; selecting experimental controls and designing stimuli; collecting data using an array of methodological tools; addressing common challenges; preparing and analyzing data; preregistering the study; and sharing data transparently in accordance with Open Science practices. Darcy provides everything needed to design and carry out robust behavioral studies on L2 speech processing, in a laboratory or online. This book will be an invaluable practical resource for researchers and advanced students in second language speech learning, second language acquisition, psycholinguistics, cognitive science, and language teaching, as well as those interested in applied linguistics, pronunciation, and related subjects.

English Pronunciation Instruction
English Pronunciation Instruction

Author: Anastazija Kirkova-Naskova

Publisher: John Benjamins Publishing Company

Published: 2021-10-13

Total Pages: 410

ISBN-13: 9027259070

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English Pronunciation Instruction: Research-based insights presents recent research on L2 English pronunciation including pedagogical implications and applications, and seeks to bridge the gulf between pronunciation research and teaching practice. The volume’s 15 chapters cover a range of aspects that are central to pronunciation teaching, including the teaching of different segmental and suprasegmental features, teachers’ and learners’ views and practices, types and sources of learners’ errors, feedback and assessment, tools and strategies for pronunciation instruction, reactions towards accented speech, as well as the connection between research and teaching. Chapters offer a fully developed section on pedagogical implications with insightful suggestions for classroom instruction. This format and the variety of topics will be informative for researchers, language teachers, and students interested in English pronunciation, as it explores the diverse challenges learners of different L1 backgrounds face, and also provides research-informed techniques and recommendations on how to cope with them.

Pattern Recognition by Humans and Machines
Pattern Recognition by Humans and Machines

Author: Eileen C. Schwab

Publisher: Elsevier

Published: 2016-06-03

Total Pages: 261

ISBN-13: 1483214265

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Pattern Recognitions by Humans and Machines, Volume 2: Visual Perceptions covers aspects of research on visual perception. The book discusses visual form perception, figure-ground organization, and the spatial and temporal responses of the visual system; eye movements; and visual pattern perception. The text also describes a computer vision model based on psychophysical experiments; perspectives from brain theory and artificial intelligence; and the capacity to extract shape properties and spatial relations among objects and objects' parts. Knowledge-mediated perception is also considered. Psychologists and people involved in the study of visual perceptions will find the book useful.

The Cognitive and Neural Organisation of Speech Processing
The Cognitive and Neural Organisation of Speech Processing

Author: Patti Adank

Publisher: Frontiers Media SA

Published: 2016-03-18

Total Pages: 148

ISBN-13: 2889197751

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Speech production and perception are two of the most complex actions humans perform. The processing of speech is studied across various fields and using a wide variety of research approaches. These fields include, but are not limited to, (socio)linguistics, phonetics, cognitive psychology, neurophysiology, and cognitive neuroscience. Research approaches range from behavioural studies to neuroimaging techniques such as Magnetoencephalography, electroencephalography (MEG/EEG) and functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging (fMRI), as well as neurophysiological approaches, such as the recording of Motor Evoked Potentials (MEPs), and Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation (TMS). Each of these approaches provides valuable information about specific aspects of speech processing. Behavioural testing can inform about the nature of the cognitive processes involved in speech processing, neuroimaging methods show where (fMRI and MEG) in the brain these processes take place and/or elucidate on the time-course of activation of these brain areas (EEG and MEG), while neurophysiological methods (MEPs and TMS) can assess critical involvement of brain regions in the cognitive process. Yet, what is currently unclear is how speech researchers can combine methods such that a convergent approach adds to theory/model formulation, above and beyond the contribution of individual component methods? We expect that such combinations of approaches will significantly forward theoretical development in the field. The present research topic comprise a collection of manuscripts discussing the cognitive and neural organisation of speech processing, including speech production and perception at the level of individual speech sounds, syllables, words, and sentences. Our goal was to use findings from a variety of disciplines, perspectives, and approaches to gain a more complete picture of the organisation of speech processing. The contributions are grouped around the following five main themes: 1) Spoken language comprehension under difficult listening conditions; 2) Sub-lexical processing; 3) Sensorimotor processing of speech; 4) Speech production. The contributions used a variety of research approaches, including behavioural experiments, fMRI, EEG, MEG, and TMS. Twelve of the 14 contributions were on speech perception processing, and the remaining two examined speech production. This Research Topic thus displays a wide variety of topics and research methods and this comprehensive approach allows an integrative understanding of currently available evidence as well as the identification of concrete venues for future research.

Speech Recognition in Adverse Conditions
Speech Recognition in Adverse Conditions

Author: Sven Mattys

Publisher: Psychology Press

Published: 2013-12-19

Total Pages: 326

ISBN-13: 1317836812

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Speech recognition in ‘adverse conditions’ has been a familiar area of research in computer science, engineering, and hearing sciences for several decades. In contrast, most psycholinguistic theories of speech recognition are built upon evidence gathered from tasks performed by healthy listeners on carefully recorded speech, in a quiet environment, and under conditions of undivided attention. Building upon the momentum initiated by the Psycholinguistic Approaches to Speech Recognition in Adverse Conditions workshop held in Bristol, UK, in 2010, the aim of this volume is to promote a multi-disciplinary, yet unified approach to the perceptual, cognitive, and neuro-physiological mechanisms underpinning the recognition of degraded speech, variable speech, speech experienced under cognitive load, and speech experienced by theoretically relevant populations. This collection opens with a review of the literature and a formal classification of adverse conditions. The research articles then highlight those adverse conditions with the greatest potential for constraining theory, showing that some speech phenomena often believed to be immutable can be affected by noise, surface variations, or attentional set in ways that will force researchers to rethink their theory. This volume is essential for those interested in speech recognition outside laboratory constraints.

First Language Attrition
First Language Attrition

Author: Monika S. Schmid

Publisher: John Benjamins Publishing

Published: 2013-05-22

Total Pages: 167

ISBN-13: 902727195X

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This volume consists of a collection of papers that focus on structural/grammatical aspects of the process of first language attrition. It presents an overview of current research, methodological issues and important questions regarding first language attrition. In particular, it addresses the two most prominent issues in current L1 attrition research: Can attrition effects impact on features of core syntax, or are they limited to interface phenomena?, and; What is the role of age at onset (pre-/post-puberty) in this regard? By investigating attrition in a variety of settings, from a case study of a Spanish-speaking adoptee in the US to an empirical investigation of more than 50 long-term attriters of Turkish in the Netherlands, the investigations presented take a new perspective on these issues. Originally published in Language, Interaction and Acquisition - Langage, Interaction et Acquisition 2:2 (2011).

Instructional Guidance
Instructional Guidance

Author: Slava Kalyuga

Publisher: IAP

Published: 2015-05-01

Total Pages: 268

ISBN-13: 1681231360

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The book explores a cognitive load perspective on instructional guidance. Cognitive load theory is focused on instructional design implications and prescriptions that flow from human cognitive architecture, and it has become one of the leading theories of instructional design. According to this theoretical perspective, the purpose of instructional guidance is to reduce learner potential cognitive overload by providing appropriate information in the right time and in a suitable format. As the learner’s level of prior knowledge is considered as the main factor influencing this decision, the effect of learner prior knowledge on effectiveness of instructional methods (the expertise reversal effect in cognitive load theory) provides the basic framework for the book. The fully-guided direct instruction and minimally-guided inquiry (discovery or exploratory) learning are often discussed in instructional psychology literature as examples of approaches with opposed degrees of guidance provided to the learners. This book considers the whole range of the levels of guidance (including intermediate levels) and approaches the problem of balancing learner guidance from a cognitive load perspective. The significance of this approach is in applying our current knowledge of human cognitive architecture to develop an integrated instructional approach bringing together the best features and advantages of direct instruction and inquiry learning. Both direct instruction and inquiry learning approaches have been around for long time, and their proponents can produce evidence of their effectiveness. This evidence needs to be treated within the context of appropriate learning goals in specific instructional settings for specific types of learners. This book provides an unbiased theoretical framework for managing learner instructional guidance and working principles for selecting appropriate levels and methods of instructional guidance (e.g., sequences of exploratory problems and explicit instruction; forms and levels of embedded guidance; and adapting methodologies) optimal for learners at different levels of prior knowledge.

Modern Pupillometry
Modern Pupillometry

Author: Megan H. Papesh

Publisher: Springer Nature

Published: 2024

Total Pages: 475

ISBN-13: 3031548965

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Pupillometry, the study of the eyes’ pupils, has a rich history dating back to the 1800s. For example, to appear “dark with desire,” women once used atropa belladonna (deadly nightshade) as a cosmetic, because the atropine dilated their pupils, making them appear more romantically aroused. We now know that this relationship is largely driven by the activity of the sympathetic nervous system; specifically, a small brainstem nucleus known as the locus coeruleus (LC). Because of tight connections between the musculature of the eyes and LC, monitoring the pupils can reveal important insights into brain activity during mental processes. Many of these processes are related to attention and arousal (cognitive or emotional), with the LC controlling mental readiness via secretion of the neurotransmitter norepinephrine. While these complicated neurochemical processes happen in the brain, they are often overtly observable via pupil dilation. Although pupillometry was popular in the 1960s and 1970s, it fell out of favor until experiencing a renaissance approximately 10 years ago. With the advent of new eye-tracking and neural recording technology, measuring (and analyzing) pupil size is now easier than ever. Because all modern eye-trackers use pupil size in the calculation of gaze location, they also provide researchers with moment-by-moment pupil size measures in output files. Although previously considered “extra” data to support gaze location analyses, researchers have begun to conduct eye-tracking studies solely to gain access to pupil size data. These data have been used to study thought processes in many domains, including cognitive science, psychopathologies, business/marketing, security contexts, and the study of addiction. The diversity of interest in pupillometry is matched by the diversity in approaches taken to data collection, analysis, and interpretation. To date, there exists no book or tutorial review devoted specifically to ensuring that researchers carry out rigorous and reproducible work across these varied domains. Modern Pupillometry: Cognition, Neuroscience, and Practical Applications fills this gap by exploring the history, neuroscience, and methodological considerations of pupillometry research within and beyond psychology. .

Crowdsourcing for Speech Processing
Crowdsourcing for Speech Processing

Author: Maxine Eskenazi

Publisher: John Wiley & Sons

Published: 2013-02-15

Total Pages: 343

ISBN-13: 1118541251

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Provides an insightful and practical introduction to crowdsourcing as a means of rapidly processing speech data Intended for those who want to get started in the domain and learn how to set up a task, what interfaces are available, how to assess the work, etc. as well as for those who already have used crowdsourcing and want to create better tasks and obtain better assessments of the work of the crowd. It will include screenshots to show examples of good and poor interfaces; examples of case studies in speech processing tasks, going through the task creation process, reviewing options in the interface, in the choice of medium (MTurk or other) and explaining choices, etc. Provides an insightful and practical introduction to crowdsourcing as a means of rapidly processing speech data. Addresses important aspects of this new technique that should be mastered before attempting a crowdsourcing application. Offers speech researchers the hope that they can spend much less time dealing with the data gathering/annotation bottleneck, leaving them to focus on the scientific issues. Readers will directly benefit from the book’s successful examples of how crowd- sourcing was implemented for speech processing, discussions of interface and processing choices that worked and choices that didn’t, and guidelines on how to play and record speech over the internet, how to design tasks, and how to assess workers. Essential reading for researchers and practitioners in speech research groups involved in speech processing