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Increased experience with an unfamiliar language decreases fixations to the mouth during encoding

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Date Issued:
2014
Summary:
Previous research has shown infants viewing speaking faces shift their visual fixation from speaker’s eyes to speaker’s mouth between 4-8 mo. Lewkowicz & Tift, 2011. It is theorized this shift occurs to facilitate language learning, based on audiovisual redundancy in speech. We previously found adults gazed significantly longer at speaker’s mouths while seeing and hearing non-native language compared with their native language. This suggested there may be mechanisms in which gaze fixations to speaking mouths are increased in response to uncertainty in speech. If so, increasing familiarity with speech signals may reduce this tendency to fixate the mouth. To test this, the current study investigated the effect of familiarization to non-native language on the gaze patterns of adults. We presented English-speakers with videos of sentences spoken in Icelandic. To ensure encoding of the speech, participants performed a task in which they were presented with videos of two different sentences, followed by an audio-only recording of one of the sentences, and had to identify whether the first or second video corresponded to the presented audio. In order to familiarize participants with the utterances, the same set of sentences were repeated. These ‘repetition’ blocks were followed by additional ‘novel’ blocks, using sentences not previously presented. We found the proportion of fixations directed at the mouth decreased across repetition blocks, but were restored to their initial rate in the novel blocks. These results suggest that familiarity with utterances, even in a non-native language, serve to reduce auditory uncertainty, leading to reduced mouth fixations.
Title: Increased experience with an unfamiliar language decreases fixations to the mouth during encoding.
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Name(s): Mavica, Lauren Wood
Barenholtz, Elan
Graduate College
Type of Resource: text
Genre: Abstract
Date Created: 2014
Date Issued: 2014
Publisher: Florida Atlantic University
Place of Publication: Boca Raton, Fla.
Physical Form: application/pdf
Extent: 1 p.
Language(s): English
Summary: Previous research has shown infants viewing speaking faces shift their visual fixation from speaker’s eyes to speaker’s mouth between 4-8 mo. Lewkowicz & Tift, 2011. It is theorized this shift occurs to facilitate language learning, based on audiovisual redundancy in speech. We previously found adults gazed significantly longer at speaker’s mouths while seeing and hearing non-native language compared with their native language. This suggested there may be mechanisms in which gaze fixations to speaking mouths are increased in response to uncertainty in speech. If so, increasing familiarity with speech signals may reduce this tendency to fixate the mouth. To test this, the current study investigated the effect of familiarization to non-native language on the gaze patterns of adults. We presented English-speakers with videos of sentences spoken in Icelandic. To ensure encoding of the speech, participants performed a task in which they were presented with videos of two different sentences, followed by an audio-only recording of one of the sentences, and had to identify whether the first or second video corresponded to the presented audio. In order to familiarize participants with the utterances, the same set of sentences were repeated. These ‘repetition’ blocks were followed by additional ‘novel’ blocks, using sentences not previously presented. We found the proportion of fixations directed at the mouth decreased across repetition blocks, but were restored to their initial rate in the novel blocks. These results suggest that familiarity with utterances, even in a non-native language, serve to reduce auditory uncertainty, leading to reduced mouth fixations.
Identifier: FA00005838 (IID)
Collection: FAU Student Research Digital Collection
Note(s): The Fifth Annual Graduate Research Day was organized by Florida Atlantic University’s Graduate Student Association. Graduate students from FAU Colleges present abstracts of original research and posters in a competition for monetary prizes, awards, and recognition
Held by: Florida Atlantic University Libraries
Sublocation: Digital Library
Persistent Link to This Record: http://purl.flvc.org/fau/fd/FA00005838
Use and Reproduction: Copyright © is held by the author with permission granted to Florida Atlantic University to digitize, archive and distribute this item for non-profit research and educational purposes. Any reuse of this item in excess of fair use or other copyright exemptions requires permission of the copyright holder.
Host Institution: FAU
Is Part of Series: Florida Atlantic University Digital Library Collections.