Talker recognition is a language-dependent process, with listeners recognizing talkers better when the talkers speak a familiar versus an unfamiliar language. This language familiarity effect (LFE) is firmly established in adults, but its developmental trajectory in children is not well understood. Some evidence suggests that the effect already exists in infancy, but little is known about how it unfolds in childhood. The present study explored whether the strength of the LFE increases in early childhood. Adults and children were tested in their native language and a foreign language using a “same-different” talker discrimination task and a “voice line-up” talker recognition task. Results showed that adults and 6-year-olds, but not 5-year-olds, exhibit a robust LFE, suggesting that the effect strengthens as children's language competence increases. For both adults and older children, the emergence of an LFE moreover appeared to be task-dependent. This study contributes to a better understanding of how children develop mature talker recognition abilities and when children's processing of indexical and linguistic information in speech approaches adult-like levels. Furthermore, the findings reported here contribute to the debates regarding the origins of the LFE—a hallmark of adult talker recognition.
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April 2018
April 25 2018
Effects of language experience and task demands on talker recognition by children and adultsa) Available to Purchase
Natalie Fecher;
Natalie Fecher
b)
Department of Psychology, University of Toronto
, 3359 Mississauga Road, Mississauga, Ontario, L5L 1C6, Canada
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Elizabeth K. Johnson
Elizabeth K. Johnson
Department of Psychology, University of Toronto
, 3359 Mississauga Road, Mississauga, Ontario, L5L 1C6, Canada
Search for other works by this author on:
Natalie Fecher
b)
Department of Psychology, University of Toronto
, 3359 Mississauga Road, Mississauga, Ontario, L5L 1C6, Canada
Elizabeth K. Johnson
Department of Psychology, University of Toronto
, 3359 Mississauga Road, Mississauga, Ontario, L5L 1C6, Canada
b)
Electronic mail: [email protected]
a)
Portions of this work were presented at the 15th Conference on Laboratory Phonology, Ithaca, NY, USA, July 2016.
J. Acoust. Soc. Am. 143, 2409–2418 (2018)
Article history
Received:
December 11 2017
Accepted:
March 30 2018
Citation
Natalie Fecher, Elizabeth K. Johnson; Effects of language experience and task demands on talker recognition by children and adults. J. Acoust. Soc. Am. 1 April 2018; 143 (4): 2409–2418. https://doi.org/10.1121/1.5032199
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