Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2006 Sep;98(3):310-8.
doi: 10.1016/j.bandl.2006.06.002. Epub 2006 Jul 7.

Training to use voice onset time as a cue to talker identification induces a left-ear/right-hemisphere processing advantage

Alexander L Francis  1 , Courtney Driscoll
Affiliations

Training to use voice onset time as a cue to talker identification induces a left-ear/right-hemisphere processing advantage

Alexander L Francis et al. Brain Lang. 2006 Sep.

Abstract

We examined the effect of perceptual training on a well-established hemispheric asymmetry in speech processing. Eighteen listeners were trained to use a within-category difference in voice onset time (VOT) to cue talker identity. Successful learners (n=8) showed faster response times for stimuli presented only to the left ear than for those presented only to the right. The development of a left-ear/right-hemisphere advantage for processing a prototypically phonetic cue supports a model of speech perception in which lateralization is driven by functional demands (talker identification vs. phonetic categorization) rather than by acoustic stimulus properties alone.

PubMed Disclaimer

Figures

Fig. 1
Fig. 1
Response times for correct responses on pre-training test and post-training test, by ear. Error bars indicate standard error of the mean.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

Similar articles

See all similar articles

Cited by

See all "Cited by" articles

References

    1. Ahissar M, Hochstein S. The reverse hierarchy theory of visual perceptual learning. Trends in Cognitive Sciences. 2004;8:457–464. - PubMed
    1. Allen JS, Miller JL. Listener sensitivity to individual talker differences in voice-onset time. Journal of the Acoustical Society of America. 2004;115:3171–3183. - PubMed
    1. Allen JS, Miller JL, DeSteno D. Individual talker differences in voice-onset-time. Journal of the Acoustical Society of America. 2003;113:544–552. - PubMed
    1. Belin P, Zatorre RJ. Adaptation to speaker’s voice: right anterior temporal lobe. NeuroReport. 2003;14:2105–2109. - PubMed
    1. Belin P, Zatorre RJ, Ahad P. Human temporal-lobe response to vocal sounds. Brain Research: Cognitive Brain Research. 2002;13:17–26. - PubMed