Studies evaluating phonological contrast learning typically investigate either the predictiveness of specific pretraining aptitude measures or the efficacy of different instructional paradigms. However, little research considers how these factors interact—whether different students learn better from different types of instruction—and what the psychological basis for any interaction might be. The present study demonstrates that successfully learning a foreign-language phonological contrast for pitch depends on an interaction between individual differences in perceptual abilities and the design of the training paradigm. Training from stimuli with high acoustic-phonetic variability is generally thought to improve learning; however, we found high-variability training enhanced learning only for individuals with strong perceptual abilities. Learners with weaker perceptual abilities were actually impaired by high-variability training relative to a low-variability condition. A second experiment assessing variations on the high-variability training design determined that the property of this learning environment most detrimental to perceptually weak learners is the amount of trial-by-trial variability. Learners’ perceptual limitations can thus override the benefits of high-variability training where trial-by-trial variability in other irrelevant acoustic-phonetic features obfuscates access to the target feature. These results demonstrate the importance of considering individual differences in pretraining aptitudes when evaluating the efficacy of any speech training paradigm.

1.
Ahissar
,
M.
, and
Hochstein
,
S.
(
2004
). “
The reverse hierarchy theory of visual perceptual learning
,”
Trends Cogn. Sci.
8
,
457
464
.
2.
Ahissar
,
M.
,
Nahum
,
M.
,
Nelken
,
I.
, and
Hochstein
,
S.
(
2009
). “
Reverse hierarchies and sensory learning
,”
Philos. Trans. R. Soc. London, Ser. B
364
,
285
299
.
3.
Barcroft
,
J.
, and
Sommers
,
M. S.
(
2005
). “
Effects of acoustic variability on second language vocabulary learning
,”
Stud. Second Lang. Acquis.
27
,
387
414
.
4.
Ben-Artzi
,
E.
, and
Marks
,
L. E.
(
1999
). “
Processing linguistic and perceptual dimensions of speech: Interactions in speeded classification
,”
J. Exp. Psychol. Hum. Percept. Perform.
25
,
579
595
.
5.
Bendor
,
D.
, and
Wang
,
X. Q.
(
2006
). “
Cortical representations of pitch in monkeys and humans
,”
Curr. Opin. Neurobiol.
16
,
391
399
.
63.
Boersma
,
P.
, and
Weenink
,
D.
(
2005
). “
Praat: doing phonetics by computer
” [Computer program]. http://www.praat.org/.
6.
Bradlow
,
A. R.
,
Nygaard
,
L. C.
, and
Pisoni
,
D. B.
(
1999
). “
Effects of talker, rate, and amplitude variation on recognition memory for spoken words
,”
Percept. Psychophys.
61
,
206
219
.
7.
Brooks
,
P. J.
,
Kempe
,
V.
, and
Sionov
,
A.
(
2006
). “
The role of learner and input variables in learning inflectional morphology
,”
Appl. Psycholinguist.
27
,
185
209
.
8.
Chandrasekaran
,
B.
,
Sampath
,
P.
, and
Wong
,
P. C. M.
(
2010
). “
Individual variability in cue-weighting and lexical tone learning
,”
J. Acoust. Soc. Am.
128
,
456
465
.
9.
Cheung
,
H.
(
1996
). “
Nonword span as a unique predictor of second-language vocabulary learning
,”
Dev. Psychol.
32
,
869
873
.
10.
Clopper
,
C. G.
, and
Pisoni
,
D. B.
(
2004
). “
Effects of talker variability on perceptual learning of dialects
,”
Lang. Speech
47
,
207
239
.
11.
Creel
,
S. C.
,
Aslin
,
R. N.
, and
Tanenhaus
,
M. K.
(
2008
). “
Heeding the voice of experience: The role of talker variation in lexical access
,”
Cognition
106
,
633
664
.
12.
Cronbach
,
L. J.
, and
Snow
,
R. E.
(
1977
).
Aptitudes and Instructional Methods
(
Irvington
,
New York
), pp.
1
592
.
13.
Dediu
,
D.
, and
Ladd
,
D. R.
(
2007
). “
Linguistic tone is related to the population frequency of the adaptive haplogroups of two brain size genes, ASPM and Microcephalin
,”
Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A.
104
,
10944
10949
.
14.
Díaz
,
B.
,
Baus
,
C.
,
Escera
,
C.
,
Costa
,
A.
, and
Sebastián-Gallés
,
N.
(
2008
). “
Brain potentials to native phoneme discrimination reveal the origin of individual differences in learning the sounds of a second language
,”
Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A.
105
,
16083
16088
.
15.
Dörnyei
,
Z.
(
2006
). “
Individual differences in second language acquisition
,”
AILA Rev.
19
,
42
68
.
16.
Drayna
,
D.
,
Manichaikul
,
A.
,
de Lange
,
M.
,
Snieder
,
H.
, and
Spector
,
T.
(
2001
). “
Genetic correlates of musical pitch recognition in humans
,”
Science
291
,
1969
1972
.
17.
Ehrman
,
M. E.
, and
Oxford
,
R. L.
(
1995
). “
Cognition plus: Correlates of language learning success
,”
Mod. Lang. J.
79
,
67
89
.
18.
Eichelbaum
,
M.
,
Ingelman-Sundberg
,
M.
, and
Evans
,
W. E.
(
2006
). “
Pharmacogenomics and individualized drug therapy
,”
Annu. Rev. Med.
54
,
119
137
.
19.
Flege
,
J. E.
(
1995
). “
Two procedures for training a novel second language phonetic contrast
,”
Appl. Psycholinguist.
16
,
425
442
.
20.
Golestani
,
N.
,
Paus
,
T.
, and
Zatorre
,
R. J.
(
2002
). “
Anatomical correlates of learning novel speech sounds
,”
Neuron
35
,
997
1010
.
21.
Golestani
,
N.
, and
Zatorre
,
R. J.
(
2009
). “
Individual differences in the acquisition of second language phonology
,”
Brain Lang.
109
,
55
67
.
22.
Green
,
K. P.
,
Tomiak
,
G. R.
, and
Kuhl
,
P. K.
(
1997
). “
The encoding of rate and talker information during phonetic perception
,”
Percept. Psychophys.
59
,
675
692
.
23.
Hardison
,
D. M.
(
2003
). “
Acquisition of second-language speech: Effects of visual cues, context, and talker variability
,”
Appl. Psycholinguist.
24
,
495
522
.
24.
Hu
,
C. F.
(
2003
). “
Phonological memory, phonological awareness, and foreign language word learning
,”
Lang. Learn.
53
,
429
462
.
25.
Johnson
,
K.
, and
Mullennix
,
J. W.
(
1997
).
Talker Variability in Speech Processing
(
Academic
,
San Diego
), pp.
1
237
.
26.
Kaganovich
,
N.
,
Francis
,
A. L.
, and
Melara
,
R. D.
(
2006
). “
Electrophysiological evidence for early interaction between talker and linguistic information during speech perception
,”
Brain Res.
1114
,
161
172
.
27.
Kingston
,
J.
(
2003
). “
Learning foreign vowels
,”
Lang. Speech
46
,
295
349
.
28.
Klein
,
T. A.
,
Neumann
,
J.
,
Reuter
,
M.
,
Hennig
,
J.
,
von Cramon
,
D. Y.
, and
Ullsperger
,
M.
(
2007
). “
Genetically determined differences in learning from errors
,”
Science
318
,
1642
1645
.
29.
Kuncel
,
N. R.
, and
Hezlett
,
S. A.
(
2007
). “
Standardized tests predict graduate students’ success
,”
Science
315
,
1080
1081
.
30.
Kuncel
,
N. R.
,
Hezlett
,
S. A.
, and
Ones
,
D. S.
(
2004
). “
Academic performance, career potential, creativity, and job performance: Can one construct predict them all?
,”
J. Pers. Soc. Psychol.
86
,
148
161
.
31.
Lively
,
S. E.
,
Logan
,
J. S.
, and
Pisoni
,
D. B.
(
1993
). “
Training Japanese listeners to identify English /r/ and /l/. II: The role of phonetic environment and talker variability in learning new perceptual categories
,”
J. Acoust. Soc. Am.
94
,
1242
1255
.
32.
Loui
,
P.
,
Alsop
,
D.
, and
Schlaug
,
G.
(
2009
). “
Tone deafness: A new disconnection syndrome?
,”
J. Neurosci.
29
,
10215
10220
.
33.
Magnuson
,
J. S.
, and
Nusbaum
,
H. C.
(
2007
). “
Acoustic differences, listener expectations, and the perceptual accommodation of talker variability
,”
J. Exp. Psychol. Hum. Percept. Perform.
33
,
391
409
.
34.
Majerus
,
S.
,
Poncelet
,
M.
,
Van der Linden
,
M.
, and
Weekes
,
B. S.
(
2008
). “
Lexical learning in bilingual adults: The relative importance of short-term memory for serial order and phonological knowledge
,”
Cognition
107
,
395
419
.
35.
Mei
,
L.
,
Chen
,
C.
,
Xue
,
G.
,
He
,
Q.
,
Li
,
T.
,
Xue
,
F.
,
Yang
,
Q.
, and
Dong
,
Q.
(
2008
). “
Neural predictors of auditory word learning
,”
NeuroReport
19
,
215
219
.
36.
Moreno
,
S.
,
Marques
,
C.
,
Santos
,
A.
,
Santos
,
M.
,
Castro
,
S. L.
, and
Besson
,
M.
(
2009
). “
Musical training influences linguistic abilities in 8-year-old children: More evidence for brain plasticity
,”
Cereb. Cortex
19
,
712
723
.
37.
Mullennix
,
J. W.
, and
Pisoni
,
D. B.
(
1990
). “
Stimulus variability and processing dependencies in speech perception
,”
Percept. Psychophys.
47
,
379
390
.
38.
Norris
,
J. M.
, and
Ortega
,
L.
(
2001
). “
Does type of instruction make a difference? Substantive findings from a meta-analytic review
,”
Lang. Learn.
51
,
157
213
.
39.
Nygaard
,
L. C.
,
Sommers
,
M. S.
, and
Pisoni
,
D. B.
(
1994
). “
Speech perception as a talker-contingent process
,”
Psychol. Sci.
5
,
42
46
.
40.
Paas
,
F. G. W. C.
, and
Van Merriënboer
,
J. G.
(
1994
). “
Variability of worked examples and transfer of geometrical problem-solving skills: A cognitive-load approach
,”
J. Educ. Psychol.
86
,
122
133
.
41.
Page
,
M. P. A.
, and
Norris
,
D.
(
2009
). “
A model linking immediate serial recall, the Hebb repetition effect and the learning of phonological word forms
,”
Philos. Trans. R Soc. London, Ser. B
364
,
3737
3753
.
42.
Pantev
,
C.
,
Oostenveld
,
R.
,
Engelien
,
A.
,
Ross
,
B.
,
Roberts
,
L. E.
, and
Hoke
,
M.
(
1998
). “
Increased auditory cortical representation in musicians
,”
Nature (London)
392
,
811
814
.
43.
Plack
,
C. J.
,
Oxenham
,
A. J.
,
Fay
,
R. R.
, and
Popper
,
A. N.
(
2005
).
Pitch: Neural Coding and Perception
(
Springer
,
New York)
, pp.
1
364
.
44.
Robinson
,
P.
(
2001
). “
Individual differences, cognitive abilities, aptitude complexes and learning conditions in second language acquisition
,”
Second Lang. Res.
17
,
368
392
.
45.
Shih
,
C. L.
(
1988
). “
Tone and intonation in Mandarin
,”
Working Papers of the Cornell Phonetics Laboratory
3
,
83
109
.
46.
Snow
,
R. E.
,
Federico
,
P -A.
, and
Montague
,
W. E.
(
1980
).
Aptitude, Learning, and Instruction
(
Erlbaum
,
Hillsdale, NJ
), Vol.
1
, pp.
1
368
, Vol. 2, pp. 1–352.
47.
Sommers
,
M. S.
, and
Barcroft
,
J.
(
2007
). “
An integrated account of the effects of acoustic variability in first language and second language: Evidence from amplitude, fundamental frequency, and speaking rate variability
,”
Appl. Psycholinguist.
28
,
231
249
.
48.
Sommers
,
M. S.
,
Nygaard
,
L. C.
, and
Pisoni
,
D. B.
(
1994
). “
Stimulus variability and spoken word recognition. I. Effects of speaking rate and overall amplitude
,”
J. Acoust. Soc. Am.
96
,
1314
1324
.
49.
Song
,
J. H.
,
Skoe
,
E.
,
Wong
,
P. C. M.
, and
Kraus
,
N.
(
2008
). “
Plasticity in the adult human auditory brainstem following short-term linguistic training
,”
J. Cogn. Neurosci.
20
,
1892
1902
.
50.
Speciale
,
G.
,
Ellis
,
N. C.
, and
Bywater
,
T.
(
2004
). “
Phonological sequence learning and short-term store capacity determine second language vocabulary acquisition
,”
Appl. Psycholinguist.
25
,
293
320
.
51.
Sternberg
,
R. J.
, and
Grigorenko
,
E. L.
(
1997
). “
Are cognitive styles still in style?
,”
Am. Psychol.
52
,
700
712
.
52.
Studebaker
,
G. A.
(
1985
). “
A rationalized arcsine transform
,”
J. Speech Hear. Res.
28
,
455
462
.
53.
Taylor
,
J.
,
Roehrig
,
A. D.
,
Hensler
,
B. S.
,
Connor
,
C. M.
, and
Schatschneider
,
C.
(
2010
). “
Teacher quality moderates the genetic effects on early reading
,”
Science
328
,
512
514
.
54.
Wang
,
Y.
,
Spence
,
M. M.
,
Jongman
,
A.
, and
Sereno
,
J. A.
(
1999
). “
Training American listeners to perceive Mandarin tones
,”
J. Acoust. Soc. Am.
106
,
3649
3658
.
55.
Wayland
,
R. P.
, and
Li
,
B.
(
2008
). “
Effects of two training procedures in cross-language perception of tones
,”
J. Phonetics
36
,
256
267
.
56.
Wong
,
P. C. M.
,
Nusbaum
,
H. C.
, and
Small
,
S. L.
(
2004
). “
Neural bases of talker normalization
,”
J. Cogn. Neurosci.
16
,
1173
1184
.
57.
Wong
,
P. C. M.
, and
Perrachione
,
T. K.
(
2007
). “
Learning pitch patterns in lexical identification by native English-speaking adults
,”
Appl. Psycholinguist.
28
,
565
585
.
58.
Wong
,
P. C. M.
,
Perrachione
,
T. K.
, and
Parrish
,
T. B.
(
2007a
). “
Neural characteristics of successful and less successful speech and word learning in adults
,”
Hum. Brain Mapp.
28
,
995
1006
.
59.
Wong
,
P. C. M.
,
Skoe
,
E.
,
Russo
,
N. M.
,
Dees
,
T.
, and
Kraus
,
N.
(
2007b
). “
Musical experience shapes human brainstem encoding of linguistic pitch patterns
,”
Nat. Neurosci.
10
,
420
422
.
60.
Wong
,
P. C. M.
,
Warrier
,
C. M.
,
Penhune
,
V. B.
,
Roy
,
A. K.
,
Sadehh
,
A.
,
Parrish
,
T. B.
, and
Zatorre
,
R. J.
(
2008
). “
Volume of left Heschl’s gyrus and linguistic pitch learning
,”
Cereb. Cortex
18
,
828
836
.
61.
Woodcock
,
R.
,
McGrew
,
K.
,
Schrank
,
F.
, and
Mather
,
N.
(
2007
).
Woodcock-Johnson III Normative Update
(
Riverside
,
Rolling Meadows, IL
).
62.
Ye
,
C. Q.
,
Poo
,
M. M.
,
Dan
,
Y.
, and
Zhang
,
X. H.
(
2010
). “
Synaptic mechanisms of direction selectivity in primary auditory cortex
,”
J. Neurosci.
30
,
1861
1868
.
You do not currently have access to this content.