Speech cue weighting and salience (SpeechCues)

Language structure is conveyed in speech by a complex set of acoustic cues, including changes in duration, amplitude, and frequency. Individuals who are better able to detect these acoustic cues may be able to more rapidly absorb the structure of a new language. However, detecting the acoustic cues of a second language can be difficult due to differences across languages in how sound patterns convey language structure. In particular, second language speakers may have difficulty directing attention towards the most relevant cues. Individuals who are better able to direct their attention to individual acoustic dimensions may be better able to focus on the acoustic cues which provide the most reliable information in an L2. We are testing the role of attention in second language learning using electroencephalography (EEG) and whether second language learners can be trained to attend to the most informative cues, and if so, whether this experience changes how they attend to sound cues. This project will lead to a better understanding of why some people struggle to learn a second language more than others.

Representations of natural sound categories (EnviSounds)

By necessity, the similarity between sounds is defined with respect to the dimensions used in making similarity judgments. Sounds might be similar according to one dimension (e.g., pitch) but dissimilar according to another dimension (e.g., amplitude). However, it is difficult to disentangle their contributions, as various properties often concur; for example, sounds with similar pitch might also have similar amplitude. Acoustic differences can also be overwritten entirely by the sounds’ meaning or common context. Thus, it is vital to assess the degree to which different object properties determine perceived similarity. This project explores whether and, if so, to what degree acoustic vs semantic information about environmental sounds contributes to similarity judgments. Building on our previous work measuring similarity between sounds, we want to extend this framework by investigating the representations of natural sound categories and various dimensions underlying those representations. We will test whether and to what degree similarity judgements depend on the dimension judged. In the real world, many dimensions are jointly and to varying degrees driving our perception of the surrounding world. Comparing the yielded representational similarity matrices (RDMs) would allow us to discover to what degree different sound properties both uniquely and in common determine perceived similarity.

Publications

Kachlicka, M., Symons, A. E., Saito, K., Dick, F., & Tierney, A. (2024). 'Tone language experience enhances dimension-selective attention and subcortical encoding but not cortical entrainment to pitch', Imaging Neuroscience, 2, 1-19.

Kachlicka, M., & Tierney, A. (2024). 'Voice actors show enhanced neural tracking of pitch, prosody perception, and music perception', Cortex, 178, 213-222.

Kachlicka, M., Patel., A. D., Liu, F., & Tierney, A. (2024). 'Weighting of cues to categorization of song versus speech in tone language and non-tone-language speakers', Cognition, 246, 105757.

Saito, K., Kachlicka, M., Suzukida, Y., Mora-Plaza, I., Ruan, Y. & Tierney, A. (2024). 'Auditory processing as perceptual, cognitive, and motoric abilities underlying successful second language acquisition: Interaction model', Journal of Experimental Psychology: Human Perception and Performance, 50(1), 119–138.

Saito, K., Hanzawa, K., Petrova, K., Kachlicka, M., Suzukida, Y., & Tierney, A. (2022). 'Incidental and multimodal high variability phonetic training: Potential, limits, and future directions', Language Learning, 72(4), 1049–1091.

Saito, K., Petrova, K., Suzukida, Y., Kachlicka, M., & Tierney, A. (2022). 'Training auditory processing promotes second language speech acquisition', Journal of Experimental Psychology: Human Perception and Performance, 48(12), 1410–1426.

Saito, K., Kachlicka, M., Suzukida, Y., Petrova, K., Lee, B. J., Tierney, A. (2022). 'Auditory precision hypothesis-L2: Dimension-specific relationships between auditory processing and second language segmental learning', Cognition, 229, 105236.

Kachlicka, M., Laffere, A., Dick, F, Tierney, A. (2022). 'Slow phase-locked modulations support selective attention to sound', NeuroImage, 252, 119024.

Saito, K., Macmillan, K., Kachlicka, M., Kunihara, T., & Minematsu, N. (2022). 'Automated assessment of second language comprehensibility: Review, training, validation, and generalization studies', Studies in Second Language Acquisition, 45, 234–263.

Saito, K., Macmillan, K., Kroeger, S., Magne, V., Takizawa, K., Kachlicka, M., & Tierney, A. (2022). 'Roles of domain-general auditory processing in spoken second language vocabulary attainment in adulthood', Applied Psycholinguistics, 43, 581–606.

Saito, K., Sun, H., Kachlicka, M., Alayo, J., Nakata, T., & Tierney, A. (2022). 'Domain-general auditory processing explains multiple dimensions of L2 acquisition in adulthood', Studies in Second Language Acquisition, 44(1), 57–86. '(Received the Albert Valdman award for outstanding publication in SSLA)'

Mitchell, A., Oberman, T., Aletta, F., Kachlicka, M., Lionello, M., Erfanian, M., & Kang, J. (2021). 'Investigating urban soundscapes of the COVID-19 lockdown: A predictive soundscape modelling approach', The Journal of Acoustical Society of America, 150, 4474–4488.

Saito, K., Kachlicka, M., Sun. H., & Tierney, A. (2020). 'Domain-general auditory processing as an anchor of post-pubertal second language pronunciation learning: Behavioural and neurophysiological investigations of perceptual acuity, age, experience, development, and attainment', Journal of Memory and Language, 115, 104168.

Mitchell, A., Oberman, T., Aletta, F., Erfanian, M., Kachlicka, M., Lionello, M., & Kang, J. (2020). 'The Soundscape Indices (SSID) Protocol: A Method for Urban Soundscape Surveys—Questionnaires with Acoustical and Contextual Information', Applied Sciences, 10(7), 2397.

Kachlicka, M., Saito, K., & Tierney, A. (2019). 'Successful second language learning is tied to robust domain-general auditory processing and stable neural representation of sound', Brain and Langauge, 192, 15–24.

Preprints

Kachlicka, M., Symons, A. E., Saito, K., Dick, F., & Tierney, A. (2024). 'Tone language experience enhances dimension-selective attention and subcortical encoding but not cortical entrainment to pitch', PsyArXiv. *Now published in Imaging Neuroscience!

Correia, S., dos Santos Rato, A. A., Fernandes, J. D., Ge, Y., Kachlicka, M., Saito, K., & Rebuschat, P. (2024). 'Effects of implicit perceptual training and cognitive aptitude on the perception and production of non-native contrasts', PsyArXiv.

Symons, A. E., Kachlicka, M., Wright, E., Razin, R., Dick, F., & Tierney, A. (2023). 'Dimensional salience varies across verbal and nonverbal domains', PsyArXiv.

Kachlicka, M., Patel., A. D., Liu, F., & Tierney, A. (2023). 'Weighting of cues to categorization of song versus speech in tone language and non-tone-language speakers', PsyArXiv. *Now published in Cognition!

Manuscripts in preparation

Kachlicka, M., Symons, A. E., Ruan, Y., Saito, K., Dick, F., & Tierney, A. (in preparation). 'Effects of targeted perceptual training on L2 prosodic cue weighting strategies'.

Kachlicka, M., van den Bosch, J., Kang, J., & Dick, F. (in preparation). 'EnviSounds dataset: A selection of environmental sounds for behavioural and neuroimaging research'.

Kachlicka, M., van den Bosch, J., Kang, J., & Dick, F. (in preparation). 'Representations of natural sound categories'.

Saito, K., Argyri, F., Kachlicka, M., Suzukida, Y., & Tierney, A. T. (in preparation). 'The bilingual advantage hypothesis revisited: Exploring the auditory processing abilities and executive function of bilingual and monolingual children with diverse biographical backgrounds'.

Conference papers

Mitchell, A.*, Oberman, T., Aletta, F., Erfanian, M., Kachlicka, M., Lionello, M., & Kang, J. (2020). 'Making cities smarter with new soundscape indices', The Journal of the Acoustical Society of America, 146, 2873.

Aletta, F.*, Oberman, T., Mitchell, A., Erfanian, M., Lionello, M., Kachlicka, M., & Kang, J. (2019). 'Associations between soundscape experience and self-reported wellbeing in open public urban spaces: a field study', The Lancet, 394(S17).

Conference Posters

Kachlicka, M.*, Symons, A. E., Ruan, Y., Saito, K., Dick, F., Tierney, A. T. (2024). 'Effects of targeted perceptual training on L2 suprasegmental cue weighting strategies' at the 33rd Conference of the European Second Language Association (3-6 July 2024, Montpellier, France)

Kachlicka, M.*, Symons, A. E., Saito, K., Dick, F., Tierney, A. T. (2023). 'Effects of first language background and musical experience on cue weighting, attention and dimensional salience in speech and music' at the Society for the Neurobiology of Language 15th Annual Meeting (23-26 October 2023, Marseille, France)

Kachlicka, M.*, van den Bosch, J., Kang, J., Dick, F. (2022). 'Representations of natural sound categories' at FENS Summer School 'Artificial and natural computations for sensory perception' (22-28 May 2022, Bertinoro, Italy)

Talks

'How does prior experience change the way we listen to sounds and learn new languages' at University of Miami, US (June 2024)

'Auditory processing in second language learning' at Brain & Language Seminar at University of Helsinki, Finland (February 2019)