UO Week of Research

Zoë Haupt, Maggie Wallace, Tillena Trebon, Orion Wesson The effect of production when learning to perceive and produce a novel sound contrast 
Previous research demonstrates that during simultaneous training of novel sound contrasts in both perception and production can disrupt rather than enhance perceptual learning. This indicates that although perception and production are assumed to be closely connected, these modalities may have a competitive relationship. In spite of this perceptual disruption, subjects trained in perception and production show gains in producing the distinction they were trained on, compared to perception-only training.
The current study examines how subjects learn to produce a new sound contrast after training in only perception or in perception and production. 30 native Spanish speakers were trained on an unfamiliar Basque sound contrast. The analysis of the post-test productions explored many phonetic dimensions of these tokens to determine how participants distinguished the sound categories. This analysis was compared across the two conditions to examine the relationship between production learning and perceptual learning.
The results are similar to previous studies in indicating a competitive relationship between production and perception. Additionally, the results indicate a generalizable improvement in the produced tokens for the production, but not a significant increase in the trained sound contrast, suggesting a more complex relationship between perception and production. These findings contribute to a better understanding of effective language learning practices. 
 
Sabrina Piccolo Effect of accent perception on the perception of professionalism 
This study explores how people’s perceptions of speakers’ accents may be related to their perceptions of speakers’ professional characteristics. In this study, 256 online participants listened to two speakers, one with an accent common for a native Spanish-speaker in Oregon and one with an accent common for a native monolingual English-speaker in Oregon, discussing Mexican history or marine biology. Each speaker was described as an expert or nonexpert in the topic. Participants then rated how they perceived the speaker’s professionalism, confidence, believability, knowledgeability and level of experience.
On average, participants rated the speaker with the English-speaking accent higher in professionalism and confidence than the speaker with the Spanish-speaking accent. However, participants tended to rate the speaker with a Spanish-speaking accent higher than the speaker with an English-speaking accent in knowledgeability and experience when the speaker was presented as a nonexpert discussing Mexican history. These results suggest ways that perceptions about accents can affect assumptions made about speakers. Considering that accent perception may influence perceptions of character traits that are prioritized in professional settings, these results highlight the importance of acknowledging and challenging those assumptions in situations where unjust perceptions of a speaker can result in biased and harmful decisions, such as in job interviews, education and courtrooms. 
  
Tillena Trebon Effect of hesitation sound phonetic quality on perception of language fluency and accent 
Nonnative speech has different pausing patterns compared to native speech. There are two types of pauses: filled and unfilled. Unfilled pauses are silent. Speakers make sounds during filled pauses. Different languages use different sounds for filled pauses; this is described as phonetic quality. English speakers use “uh” and Spanish speakers use “eh” to hesitate. When the phonetic quality of a hesitation sound (henceforth “HS”) is consistent with the HS used by native speakers, the HS is native. HSs with phonetic quality inconsistent with a native speaker HS are non-native. Studies show that proficiency and speech community influence whether L2 speakers produce native or nonnative HSs. However, no study has investigated the perceptual consequences of using nonnative versus native HSs. This study investigates the effect of HS phonetic quality on perception of language fluency and accentedness. In Experiment 1, participants rate sentences for fluency and accent. In Experiment 2, participants listen to two sentences with different HSs and choose which sentence sounds more accented and more fluent. Experiment 1 results show that HS phonetic quality did not impact listener judgements about accentedness or fluency. However, in Experiment 2, listeners rated nonnative HSs less fluent and more accented. This project has important implications for how learners treat pausing when practicing their L2 and for understanding how listeners process pauses when listening to nonnative speech. 
 
Lucy Zepeda & Jacqueline Luna The Relation between Parent Competence and Parent-Child Interactions: A Consideration of Culture 
In the majority of research, parenting interventions have been conducted with a focus on Western populations. We aim to address this cultural gap by examining the relationship between parent-centered variables (parent stress, nurturance, limit-setting) and parent-child interactions. 
A sample of 116 caregiver-infant dyads (0-3 years) were recruited from a larger intervention study. Free play interactions between parent and child were recorded during home visits to observe “serve” and “return” behaviors. In this sample: 67% (n=78) films contained interactions in Spanish, and 33% (n=38) were recorded in English. Parents completed measures including the SEPTI, PSI, and PSOC. Films were coded using a detailed glossary and flowchart. Correlation analyses were used to evaluate associations between parenting scores on the parenting measures and parenting behaviors. 
We found differences in baseline associations between parent self-rated scores and observed behavioral interactions for English and Spanish-speaking families. In only Spanish speaking families, PSI was correlated with low reciprocity (r(78) = 0.272, p =0.016), and negatively correlated with higher reciprocity (r(78) = -0.255, p =0.24). In only English speaking families, SEPTI nurturance (r(38) = 0.336, p =0.039) and Discipline Limit setting (r(38) = 0.343, p =0.035) are significantly correlated with a lack of engagement between parent and child. Implications of these linguistic differences will be further discussed.