Question 1

If you favor the general mechanism approach to speech perception, you would argue that

Accepted Answer

The general mechanism approach argues that speech perception is not fundamentally different from perception of other sounds, and that the same mechanisms that are used for processing other sounds are also used for speech sounds. This approach is supported by research showing that basic auditory processes are involved in speech perception, and that speech perception can be influenced by factors such as noise and attention in the same way as other auditory stimuli.

Question 2

Your textbook states that phonemic restoration is a kind of illusion. This statement is true because

Accepted Answer

Phonemic restoration is an illusion where the brain fills in missing phonemes during speech perception, making us think we hear sounds that are not actually present in the stimulus. This is a top-down processing phenomenon, where our knowledge and expectations influence our perception.

Question 3

Which of the following favors a special mechanism approach to speech perception?

Accepted Answer

Early research on categorical perception of speech sounds supports the idea that speech perception is a specialized mechanism. This research demonstrated that listeners were better able to distinguish between speech sounds that belonged to different phonetic categories than between those that belonged to the same category, suggesting that our brains categorize speech sounds in a unique way.

Question 4

Which of the following students provides the most accurate information about the variability found in the way we pronounce pronouns?

Accepted Answer

The answer of Which of the following students provides the...

Question 5

Suppose that you are listening to a lecture, and another student's chair squeaks loudly during the middle of a word, so that the middle of that word cannot be heard. Nonetheless, you do not detect any interruption in the word. This example is closest to which of the following cognitive phenomena?

Accepted Answer

Phonemic restoration is the perceptual phenomenon where a missing or obscured speech sound is filled in by the brain, based on the context of the surrounding speech sounds. In this scenario, the missing speech sound due to the squeaking chair is likely filled in by the brain based on the context of the speech that was heard before and after the interruption, resulting in a perception of a complete word.

Question 6

Which of the following students best summarizes the information about visual cues and speech perception?

Accepted Answer

The answer of Which of the following students best summarizes...

Question 7

What can we conclude about the two major explanations for speech perception?

Accepted Answer

The answer of What can we conclude about the two...

Question 8

Studies of speech perception show that

Accepted Answer

Studies have shown that the movements of the mouth and tongue are coordinated in such a way that when the first phoneme of a word is being spoken, the mouth begins to prepare for the next phoneme, indicating that speech sounds are processed in an overlapping manner rather than sequentially.

Question 9

According to the discussion of phonemic restoration,

Accepted Answer

Phonemic restoration is a phenomenon in which our brains can fill in missing phonemes in speech by using context and top-down processing. This means that even if we don't hear a particular phoneme in a word, we can still identify the word based on what we expect to hear in that context. It is not typically caused by variations in phoneme pronunciation or coarticulation.

Question 10

Heather notes that it is always easier to understand her sister's speech when they converse on Skype as compared to conversing on the telephone. Her sister believes that the sound quality on Skype may be better than on her smart phone. However, Heather thinks about her Cognitive Psychology class and reasons that the phenomenon may be an illustration of

Accepted Answer

The fact that it is easier for Heather to understand her sister on Skype as compared to the telephone suggests that visual cues (in this case, lip movements and facial expressions) are important in speech processing. This is because, on Skype, Heather is able to see these visual cues and use them in conjunction with auditory information for speech comprehension.

Question 11

The o sound in the word dog influences the position of your mouth when you pronounce the remainder of the word. This phenomenon is called

Accepted Answer

Coarticulation is the phenomenon in which the articulation of one phoneme is influenced by the preceding or following phoneme. In this case, the position of the mouth when pronouncing the "o" sound in "dog" influences the position of the mouth for pronouncing the "g" sound, resulting in coarticulation. The McGurk effect, categorical perception, and phonemic restoration are not directly related to this phenomenon.

Question 12

The "general mechanism approach" to speech perception argues that

Accepted Answer

The "general mechanism approach" to speech perception suggests that the cognitive processes involved in interpreting speech are not unique to speech alone but are used for other types of auditory perception as well. This approach contrasts with theories that propose specialized mechanisms dedicated solely to speech perception.

Question 13

The theorists who argue for a special mechanism approach to speech perception emphasize that humans have a special-purpose portion of the brain that makes speech perception easier. They call this special mechanism a

Accepted Answer

The special mechanism that is argued for by the special mechanism approach to speech perception is called the phonetic module. This module is hypothesized to be a dedicated area in the brain specifically designed for processing speech sounds.

Question 14

The research on speech perception demonstrates that

Accepted Answer

The research on speech perception shows that listeners use visual cues from the speaker's mouth in order to perceive an ambiguous sound. This is known as the McGurk effect, where people perceive a sound differently depending on the visual information they receive from the speaker's mouth movements. Option A is incorrect as each phoneme can have variations in pronunciation based on context and dialect. Option B is also incorrect as context can be used to identify missing consonants as well. Option D is incorrect as listeners do perceive breaks in the stream of language, such as pauses between words or sentences.

Question 15

Which of the following students provides the most accurate summary about phoneme pronunciation, as discussed in the section on speech perception?

Accepted Answer

The accurate summary about phoneme pronunciation, as discussed in the section on speech perception, is that humans manage to perceive the phoneme intended by the speaker, even though phoneme pronunciation is quite variable. This is essentially what George's statement says in option A. Option B is incorrect because it suggests that humans tend to perceive phonemes inaccurately, which is not true. Option C is incorrect because it suggests that most speakers have sloppy phoneme pronunciation, which is also not true. Option D is incorrect because it suggests that each phoneme is pronounced in a consistent fashion, which is not true either.

Question 16

Suppose that you are watching a television talk show. The picture on your TV set is clear, but the sound is somewhat muffled. If the visual information helps you interpret some of the words that the talk-show host is saying, you are demonstrating

Accepted Answer

The McGurk effect demonstrates how visual information (such as lip movements) can influence the perception of auditory information, leading to a different interpretation of sounds than what might be expected from the sound alone. In this scenario, seeing the talk-show host's mouth movements helps you understand muffled speech, illustrating the McGurk effect.

Question 17

Coarticulation is the tendency

Accepted Answer

Coarticulation refers to the way in which the pronunciation of a phoneme can be influenced by the surrounding phonemes. This means that the sounds we produce are not isolated, but rather influenced by the sounds that come before and after them. For example, the vowel sound in "bat" is slightly different than the vowel sound in "bet" because of the influence of the surrounding consonants. This process is known as coarticulation.

Question 18

Suppose that you are reading a journal article that supports the "special mechanism approach" to speech perception. Which of the following statements would you be most likely to see?

Accepted Answer

The special mechanism approach posits that humans have a specialized, innate ability to perceive and process speech sounds. This is in contrast to the idea that speech perception operates in the same way as visual perception (C), or that it is influenced by music (B) or memory (D).

Question 19

Research on context and speech perception has demonstrated that

Accepted Answer

Context plays a crucial role in speech perception, and research has shown that people are often able to fill in missing sounds based on the surrounding words and sentence structure. This is known as the "phonemic restoration effect." Therefore, people may not notice a missing sound if the context provides enough information to fill in the gap.

Question 20

According to the general mechanism approach, speech perception can be explained by

Accepted Answer

The general mechanism approach suggests that speech perception is not a specialized skill, but rather is explained by the same general learning mechanisms that humans use for other cognitive skills. This approach argues that listeners learn to associate acoustic cues with linguistic units through exposure and experience, rather than having an innate ability to perceive language or a pre-programmed neural unit. Additionally, it recognizes the importance of listeners' ability to coordinate phonemes with other cues, such as lip movements, in accurately perceiving speech.

Quiz 2: Visual and Auditory Recognition