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. 2022 Feb 28:13:801263.
doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2022.801263. eCollection 2022.

Music Perception Abilities and Ambiguous Word Learning: Is There Cross-Domain Transfer in Nonmusicians?

Eline A Smit  1   2 , Andrew J Milne  1 , Paola Escudero  1   2
Affiliations

Music Perception Abilities and Ambiguous Word Learning: Is There Cross-Domain Transfer in Nonmusicians?

Eline A Smit et al. Front Psychol. .

Abstract

Perception of music and speech is based on similar auditory skills, and it is often suggested that those with enhanced music perception skills may perceive and learn novel words more easily. The current study tested whether music perception abilities are associated with novel word learning in an ambiguous learning scenario. Using a cross-situational word learning (CSWL) task, nonmusician adults were exposed to word-object pairings between eight novel words and visual referents. Novel words were either non-minimal pairs differing in all sounds or minimal pairs differing in their initial consonant or vowel. In order to be successful in this task, learners need to be able to correctly encode the phonological details of the novel words and have sufficient auditory working memory to remember the correct word-object pairings. Using the Mistuning Perception Test (MPT) and the Melodic Discrimination Test (MDT), we measured learners' pitch perception and auditory working memory. We predicted that those with higher MPT and MDT values would perform better in the CSWL task and in particular for novel words with high phonological overlap (i.e., minimal pairs). We found that higher musical perception skills led to higher accuracy for non-minimal pairs and minimal pairs differing in their initial consonant. Interestingly, this was not the case for vowel minimal pairs. We discuss the results in relation to theories of second language word learning such as the Second Language Perception model (L2LP).

Keywords: auditory perception; cross-situational word learning; music perception; phonological processing; pitch.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
The eight novel words and their visual referents. The four words in the top row are minimally different in their initial consonant, whereas the words on the bottom are minimally different in their vowel. The vowel used for the consonant minimal pairs is/O/as in POT. Vowels used for the vowel minimal pairs are/i/as in BEAT, /I/as in BIT, /u/as in BOOT, and/U/as in PUT.
Figure 2
Figure 2
Mean accuracy (in percentage) per pair type. Error bars represent the standard error over the mean accuracy responses per pair type. The dotted line represents accuracy by chance.
Figure 3
Figure 3
Conditional effects of MPT ability and pair type on mean accuracy with 95% credibility intervals.
Figure 4
Figure 4
Conditional effects of MDT ability and pair type on mean accuracy with 95% credibility intervals.
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