Differences In Perceptual Assimilation Following Training

Learning to perceive non-native speech sounds is difficult for adults. One method to improve perception of non-native contrasts is through a distributional learning paradigm. Three groups of native-English listeners completed a perceptual assimilation task in which they mapped French vowels onto English vowel categories: Two groups (bimodal, unimodal distribution) completed a perceptual learning task for the French /oe/-/o/ contrast and a third completed no training. Both trained groups differed from the untrained group, but participants in the bimodal group showed a different perceptual mapping for the targeted /oe/ vowel, suggesting that the bimodal condition may maximize perception of non-native contrasts.