Task-evoked pupil response for accurately recognized accented speech

Unfamiliar second-language (L2) accents present a common challenge to speech understanding. However, the extent to which accurately recognized unfamiliar L2-accented speech imposes a greater cognitive load than native speech remains unclear. The current study used pupillometry to assess cognitive lo...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:The Journal of the Acoustical Society of America 2020-02, Vol.147 (2), p.EL151-EL156
Main Authors: McLaughlin, Drew J., Van Engen, Kristin J.
Format: Article
Language:English
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Summary:Unfamiliar second-language (L2) accents present a common challenge to speech understanding. However, the extent to which accurately recognized unfamiliar L2-accented speech imposes a greater cognitive load than native speech remains unclear. The current study used pupillometry to assess cognitive load for native English listeners during the perception of intelligible Mandarin Chinese-accented English and American-accented English. Results showed greater pupil response (indicating greater cognitive load) for the unfamiliar L2-accented speech. These findings indicate that the mismatches between unfamiliar L2-accented speech and native listeners' linguistic representations impose greater cognitive load even when recognition accuracy is at ceiling.
ISSN:0001-4966
1520-8524
DOI:10.1121/10.0000718