Our research suggests that language experience plays a role in identifying bilingual talkers across languages.
These findings show that bilingual infants have a distinct challenge in segmenting words in both their native languages. Further research exploring early word segmentation will advance our understanding of bilingual acquisition and expand our fundamental knowledge of language and cognitive development.
Our research indicate that even among unimpaired readers, phonological competence as captured by reading ability exerts a gradient influence on perceptual learning for talkers' voices.
Our research shows that toddlers, like adults, interpret filler words differently depending on who is speaking. These findings are striking because they show that young children have a very sophisticated understanding about why disfluencies occur, and they confirm that children’s knowledge of speakers affect their use of subtle speech cues during real-time language processing.
Incidental exposure to a foreign language bolsters talker learning in that language. Exposure effects include faster learning and improved memory of foreign voices. These effects occur even in the absence of language comprehension.