Adam Tierney
Datos Biográficos
| ID | 3843787 |
|---|---|
| NOMBRE | Adam Tierney |
| NOMBRES | Adam |
| APELLIDO | Tierney |
| FIRMA | TIERNEY A |
| AFILIACIONES | Birkbeck, University of London |
| ORCID | 0000-0002-7624-6918 |
| VERIFICADO | Sí |
| TOTAL DE OBRAS | 24 |
| TOTAL DE CITAS | 12 |
| TOTAL COMO AUTOR | 24 |
| TOTAL COMO EDITOR | 0 |
| PRIMER AÑO DE PUBLICACIÓN | 2020 |
| AÑO MÁS RECIENTE DE PUBLICACIÓN | 2026 |
| ÍNDICE H | 2 |
English Prosody Dataset for investigating English prosody acquisition
English prosody conveys grammatical structure, word meaning, and pragmatic information. However, research on second language (L2) acquisition has primarily focused on segmental properties of speech, with relatively less attention to prosody. We present the English Prosody Dataset to facilitate research on the acquisition and use of English prosody. The dataset includes contrastive examples of three prosodic features: phrase boundary, disambiguati…
Strong primary cue weighting is linked to robust dimension-selective attention
Speech perception is supported by multiple redundant acoustic cues. How do listeners prioritize these cues? Although computational models suggest that cue weighting reflects the statistical reliability of cues in language input, listeners show stable individual differences in weighting strategies. These differences may arise from variation in perceptual acuity (affecting the perceived reliability of specific dimensions) or from selective attentio…
Speech perception strategies shift instantly
To perceive speech listeners must decide how to prioritize information from multiple acoustic dimensions. Over the course of language learning, individuals form stable perceptual strategies which reflect the strength of the statistical relationship between values along particular acoustic dimensions and linguistic categories. Despite this underlying stability, listeners will change their strategies in response to evidence about shifts in the reli…
Effects of targeted perceptual training on L2 suprasegmental weighting strategies
Learning a second language (L2) is challenging partly due to perceptual strategies inherited from learners’ first language. For example, speakers of tone languages like Mandarin over-use pitch in English prosody perception and production. We developed a novel training paradigm to help Mandarin learners adopt more native-like strategies by enhancing their use of duration relative to pitch cues during prosody categorization. After prosody training,…
Individual differences in perception of prosody in Mandarin-accented speech are linked to pitch perception, melody memory, musical training, and neural encoding of sound
There are large differences across individuals in the ability to perceive foreign-accented speech, and the sources of this variability are poorly understood. Here we tested the hypothesis that individual differences in auditory processing help drive variability in accented speech perception. We asked L1 English speakers to perceive prosodic features in Mandarin-accented English. Individuals who could precisely discriminate pitch and accurately re…
Speech-to-song transformation in perception and production
Roles of Domain-General Auditory Processing in Second Language Speech Learning Revisited
This study expands on the practical application of the critical role of auditory processing in the rate of naturalistic L2 speech acquisition. In Study 1, the prosodic production of English by 46 Chinese college students was tracked over a five-month study abroad program in the UK. Learners with extensive L2 input opportunities demonstrated improvements in prosodic accuracy; however, those with pitch acuity below a certain threshold showed regres…
Informational masking influences segmental and suprasegmental speech categorization
Auditory categorization requires listeners to integrate acoustic information from multiple dimensions. Attentional theories suggest that acoustic dimensions that are informative attract attention and therefore receive greater perceptual weight during categorization. However, the acoustic environment is often noisy, with multiple sound sources competing for listeners’ attention. Amid these adverse conditions, attentional theories predict that list…
Salient sounds distort time perception and production
The auditory world is often cacophonous, with some sounds capturing attention and distracting us from our goals. Despite the universality of this experience, many questions remain about how and why sound captures attention, how rapidly behavior is disrupted, and how long this interference lasts. Here, we use a novel measure of behavioral disruption to test predictions made by models of auditory salience. Models predict that goal-directed behavior…
Rapid Learning and Long-term Memory in the Speech-to-song Illusion
The speech-to-song illusion is a perceptual transformation in which a spoken phrase initially heard as speech begins to sound like song across repetitions. In two experiments, we tested whether phrase-specific learning and memory processes engaged by repetition contribute to the illusion. In Experiment 1, participants heard 16 phrases across two conditions. In both conditions, participants heard eight repetitions of each phrase and rated their ex…
Domain-general auditory processing as a conceptual and measurement framework for second language speech learning aptitude
This article proposes a conceptual and measurement framework for postpubertal, L2 speech learning aptitude that is centered around domain-general auditory processing (i.e., representing spectral and temporal characteristics of sounds). To this end, we examine the construct and reliability of a battery of auditory processing tests by presenting the results of an empirical study wherein 100 participants took the tests twice. The findings showed (a)…
Generalization of auditory expertise in audio engineers and instrumental musicians
From auditory perception to general cognition, the ability to play a musical instrument has been associated with skills both related and unrelated to music. However, it is unclear if these effects are bound to the specific characteristics of musical instrument training, as little attention has been paid to other populations such as audio engineers and designers whose auditory expertise may match or surpass that of musicians in specific auditory t…
Weighting of cues to categorization of song versus speech in tone-language and non-tone-language speakers
One of the most important auditory categorization tasks a listener faces is determining a sound's domain, a process which is a prerequisite for successful within-domain categorization tasks such as recognizing different speech sounds or musical tones. Speech and song are universal in human cultures: how do listeners categorize a sequence of words as belonging to one or the other of these domains? There is growing interest in the acoustic cues tha…
Short-term perceptual reweighting in suprasegmental categorization
Segmental speech units such as phonemes are described as multidimensional categories whose perception involves contributions from multiple acoustic input dimensions, and the relative perceptual weights of these dimensions respond dynamically to context. For example, when speech is altered to create an “accent” in which two acoustic dimensions are correlated in a manner opposite that of long-term experience, the dimension that carries less percept…
How Does Having a Good Ear Promote Instructed Second Language Pronunciation Development? Roles of Domain‐General Auditory Processing in Choral Repetition Training
Growing evidence suggests that auditory processing ability may be a crucial determinant of language learning, including adult second language (L2) speech learning. The current study tested 47 Chinese English‐as‐a‐Foreign‐Language students to examine the extent to which two types of auditory processing, i.e., perceptual acuity and audio‐motor integration, related to improvements in the comprehensibility and nativelikeness of L2 speech following tw…
Does domain-general auditory processing uniquely explain the outcomes of second language speech acquisition, even once cognitive and demographic variables are accounted for
Extending the paradigm in L1 acquisition, scholars have begun to investigate whether participants’ domain-general ability to represent, encode, and integrate spectral and temporal dimensions of sounds (i.e., auditory processing) could be a potential determinant of the outcomes of post-pubertal L2 speech learning. The current study set out to test the hypothesis that auditory processing makes a unique contribution to L2 speech acquisition, for 70 …
Domain-General Auditory Processing Explains Multiple Dimensions of L2 Acquisition in Adulthood
In this study, we propose a hypothesis that domain-general auditory processing, a perceptual anchor of L1 acquisition, can serve as the foundation of successful post-pubertal L2 learning. This hypothesis was tested with 139 post-pubertal L2 immersion learners by linking individual differences in auditory discrimination across multiple acoustic dimensions to the segmental, prosodic, lexical, and morphosyntactic dimensions of L2 proficiency. Overal…
Auditory precision hypothesis-L2
Growing evidence suggests a broad relationship between individual differences in auditory processing ability and the rate and ultimate attainment of language acquisition throughout the lifespan, including post-pubertal second language (L2) speech learning. However, little is known about how the precision of processing of specific auditory dimensions relates to the acquisition of specific L2 segmental contrasts. In the context of 100 late Japanese…
Incidental and Multimodal High Variability Phonetic Training
Scholars have extensively investigated the effectiveness of high variability phonetic training (HVPT), that is, identification and discrimination of second language speech sounds produced by multiple speakers followed by trial‐by‐trial feedback. Building on the notion of incidental and multimodal learning in cognitive psychology (e.g., Lim & Holt, 2011), we developed a new, HVPT‐based videogame paradigm in which participants aimed to shoot clay t…
A Longitudinal Investigation of Explicit and Implicit Auditory Processing in L2 Segmental and Suprasegmental Acquisition
Precise auditory perception at a subcortical level (neural representation and encoding of sound) has been suggested as a form of implicit L2 aptitude in naturalistic settings. Emerging evidence suggests that such implicit aptitude explains some variance in L2 speech perception and production among adult learners with different first language backgrounds and immersion experience. By examining 46 Chinese learners of English, the current study longi…
Effects of language experience on domain-general perceptual strategies
Domain‐General Auditory Processing Partially Explains Second Language Speech Learning in Classroom Settings
To date, a growing number of studies have shown that domain‐general auditory processing, which prior work has linked to L1 acquisition, could explain various dimensions of naturalistic L2 speech proficiency. The current study examined the generalizability of this topic to L2 speech learning in classroom settings. The spontaneous speech samples of 39 Vietnamese English‐as‐a‐foreign‐language learners were analyzed for fluent and accurate use of pro…
Domain-general auditory processing as an anchor of post-pubertal second language pronunciation learning
Successful second language pronunciation learning is linked to domain-general auditory processing rather than music aptitude
Whereas a growing amount of attention has been directed to the role of perceptual-cognitive aptitude in successful second language (L2) lexicogrammar learning, scholars have begun to investigate the same topic in the context of L2 pronunciation learning. To date, there is ongoing discussion on the mechanism underlying L2 speech learning in relation to music aptitude and domain-general auditory processing ability. Situated within 48 moderately exp…
Incidental and Multimodal High Variability Phonetic Training
Scholars have extensively investigated the effectiveness of high variability phonetic training (HVPT), that is, identification and discrimination of second language speech sounds produced by multiple speakers followed by trial‐by‐trial feedback. Building on the notion of incidental and multimodal learning in cognitive psychology (e.g., Lim & Holt, 2011), we developed a new, HVPT‐based videogame paradigm in which participants aimed to shoot clay t…
Successful second language pronunciation learning is linked to domain-general auditory processing rather than music aptitude
Whereas a growing amount of attention has been directed to the role of perceptual-cognitive aptitude in successful second language (L2) lexicogrammar learning, scholars have begun to investigate the same topic in the context of L2 pronunciation learning. To date, there is ongoing discussion on the mechanism underlying L2 speech learning in relation to music aptitude and domain-general auditory processing ability. Situated within 48 moderately exp…
How Does Having a Good Ear Promote Instructed Second Language Pronunciation Development? Roles of Domain‐General Auditory Processing in Choral Repetition Training
Growing evidence suggests that auditory processing ability may be a crucial determinant of language learning, including adult second language (L2) speech learning. The current study tested 47 Chinese English‐as‐a‐Foreign‐Language students to examine the extent to which two types of auditory processing, i.e., perceptual acuity and audio‐motor integration, related to improvements in the comprehensibility and nativelikeness of L2 speech following tw…
Domain-general auditory processing as an anchor of post-pubertal second language pronunciation learning
Successful second language pronunciation learning is linked to domain-general auditory processing rather than music aptitude
Whereas a growing amount of attention has been directed to the role of perceptual-cognitive aptitude in successful second language (L2) lexicogrammar learning, scholars have begun to investigate the same topic in the context of L2 pronunciation learning. To date, there is ongoing discussion on the mechanism underlying L2 speech learning in relation to music aptitude and domain-general auditory processing ability. Situated within 48 moderately exp…
A Longitudinal Investigation of Explicit and Implicit Auditory Processing in L2 Segmental and Suprasegmental Acquisition
Precise auditory perception at a subcortical level (neural representation and encoding of sound) has been suggested as a form of implicit L2 aptitude in naturalistic settings. Emerging evidence suggests that such implicit aptitude explains some variance in L2 speech perception and production among adult learners with different first language backgrounds and immersion experience. By examining 46 Chinese learners of English, the current study longi…
Effects of language experience on domain-general perceptual strategies
Domain‐General Auditory Processing Partially Explains Second Language Speech Learning in Classroom Settings
To date, a growing number of studies have shown that domain‐general auditory processing, which prior work has linked to L1 acquisition, could explain various dimensions of naturalistic L2 speech proficiency. The current study examined the generalizability of this topic to L2 speech learning in classroom settings. The spontaneous speech samples of 39 Vietnamese English‐as‐a‐foreign‐language learners were analyzed for fluent and accurate use of pro…
Does domain-general auditory processing uniquely explain the outcomes of second language speech acquisition, even once cognitive and demographic variables are accounted for
Extending the paradigm in L1 acquisition, scholars have begun to investigate whether participants’ domain-general ability to represent, encode, and integrate spectral and temporal dimensions of sounds (i.e., auditory processing) could be a potential determinant of the outcomes of post-pubertal L2 speech learning. The current study set out to test the hypothesis that auditory processing makes a unique contribution to L2 speech acquisition, for 70 …
Domain-General Auditory Processing Explains Multiple Dimensions of L2 Acquisition in Adulthood
In this study, we propose a hypothesis that domain-general auditory processing, a perceptual anchor of L1 acquisition, can serve as the foundation of successful post-pubertal L2 learning. This hypothesis was tested with 139 post-pubertal L2 immersion learners by linking individual differences in auditory discrimination across multiple acoustic dimensions to the segmental, prosodic, lexical, and morphosyntactic dimensions of L2 proficiency. Overal…
Auditory precision hypothesis-L2
Growing evidence suggests a broad relationship between individual differences in auditory processing ability and the rate and ultimate attainment of language acquisition throughout the lifespan, including post-pubertal second language (L2) speech learning. However, little is known about how the precision of processing of specific auditory dimensions relates to the acquisition of specific L2 segmental contrasts. In the context of 100 late Japanese…
Incidental and Multimodal High Variability Phonetic Training
Scholars have extensively investigated the effectiveness of high variability phonetic training (HVPT), that is, identification and discrimination of second language speech sounds produced by multiple speakers followed by trial‐by‐trial feedback. Building on the notion of incidental and multimodal learning in cognitive psychology (e.g., Lim & Holt, 2011), we developed a new, HVPT‐based videogame paradigm in which participants aimed to shoot clay t…
Short-term perceptual reweighting in suprasegmental categorization
Segmental speech units such as phonemes are described as multidimensional categories whose perception involves contributions from multiple acoustic input dimensions, and the relative perceptual weights of these dimensions respond dynamically to context. For example, when speech is altered to create an “accent” in which two acoustic dimensions are correlated in a manner opposite that of long-term experience, the dimension that carries less percept…
How Does Having a Good Ear Promote Instructed Second Language Pronunciation Development? Roles of Domain‐General Auditory Processing in Choral Repetition Training
Growing evidence suggests that auditory processing ability may be a crucial determinant of language learning, including adult second language (L2) speech learning. The current study tested 47 Chinese English‐as‐a‐Foreign‐Language students to examine the extent to which two types of auditory processing, i.e., perceptual acuity and audio‐motor integration, related to improvements in the comprehensibility and nativelikeness of L2 speech following tw…
Informational masking influences segmental and suprasegmental speech categorization
Auditory categorization requires listeners to integrate acoustic information from multiple dimensions. Attentional theories suggest that acoustic dimensions that are informative attract attention and therefore receive greater perceptual weight during categorization. However, the acoustic environment is often noisy, with multiple sound sources competing for listeners’ attention. Amid these adverse conditions, attentional theories predict that list…
Salient sounds distort time perception and production
The auditory world is often cacophonous, with some sounds capturing attention and distracting us from our goals. Despite the universality of this experience, many questions remain about how and why sound captures attention, how rapidly behavior is disrupted, and how long this interference lasts. Here, we use a novel measure of behavioral disruption to test predictions made by models of auditory salience. Models predict that goal-directed behavior…
Rapid Learning and Long-term Memory in the Speech-to-song Illusion
The speech-to-song illusion is a perceptual transformation in which a spoken phrase initially heard as speech begins to sound like song across repetitions. In two experiments, we tested whether phrase-specific learning and memory processes engaged by repetition contribute to the illusion. In Experiment 1, participants heard 16 phrases across two conditions. In both conditions, participants heard eight repetitions of each phrase and rated their ex…
Domain-general auditory processing as a conceptual and measurement framework for second language speech learning aptitude
This article proposes a conceptual and measurement framework for postpubertal, L2 speech learning aptitude that is centered around domain-general auditory processing (i.e., representing spectral and temporal characteristics of sounds). To this end, we examine the construct and reliability of a battery of auditory processing tests by presenting the results of an empirical study wherein 100 participants took the tests twice. The findings showed (a)…
Generalization of auditory expertise in audio engineers and instrumental musicians
From auditory perception to general cognition, the ability to play a musical instrument has been associated with skills both related and unrelated to music. However, it is unclear if these effects are bound to the specific characteristics of musical instrument training, as little attention has been paid to other populations such as audio engineers and designers whose auditory expertise may match or surpass that of musicians in specific auditory t…
Weighting of cues to categorization of song versus speech in tone-language and non-tone-language speakers
One of the most important auditory categorization tasks a listener faces is determining a sound's domain, a process which is a prerequisite for successful within-domain categorization tasks such as recognizing different speech sounds or musical tones. Speech and song are universal in human cultures: how do listeners categorize a sequence of words as belonging to one or the other of these domains? There is growing interest in the acoustic cues tha…
Speech-to-song transformation in perception and production
Roles of Domain-General Auditory Processing in Second Language Speech Learning Revisited
This study expands on the practical application of the critical role of auditory processing in the rate of naturalistic L2 speech acquisition. In Study 1, the prosodic production of English by 46 Chinese college students was tracked over a five-month study abroad program in the UK. Learners with extensive L2 input opportunities demonstrated improvements in prosodic accuracy; however, those with pitch acuity below a certain threshold showed regres…
English Prosody Dataset for investigating English prosody acquisition
English prosody conveys grammatical structure, word meaning, and pragmatic information. However, research on second language (L2) acquisition has primarily focused on segmental properties of speech, with relatively less attention to prosody. We present the English Prosody Dataset to facilitate research on the acquisition and use of English prosody. The dataset includes contrastive examples of three prosodic features: phrase boundary, disambiguati…
Strong primary cue weighting is linked to robust dimension-selective attention
Speech perception is supported by multiple redundant acoustic cues. How do listeners prioritize these cues? Although computational models suggest that cue weighting reflects the statistical reliability of cues in language input, listeners show stable individual differences in weighting strategies. These differences may arise from variation in perceptual acuity (affecting the perceived reliability of specific dimensions) or from selective attentio…
Speech perception strategies shift instantly
To perceive speech listeners must decide how to prioritize information from multiple acoustic dimensions. Over the course of language learning, individuals form stable perceptual strategies which reflect the strength of the statistical relationship between values along particular acoustic dimensions and linguistic categories. Despite this underlying stability, listeners will change their strategies in response to evidence about shifts in the reli…
Effects of targeted perceptual training on L2 suprasegmental weighting strategies
Learning a second language (L2) is challenging partly due to perceptual strategies inherited from learners’ first language. For example, speakers of tone languages like Mandarin over-use pitch in English prosody perception and production. We developed a novel training paradigm to help Mandarin learners adopt more native-like strategies by enhancing their use of duration relative to pitch cues during prosody categorization. After prosody training,…
Individual differences in perception of prosody in Mandarin-accented speech are linked to pitch perception, melody memory, musical training, and neural encoding of sound
There are large differences across individuals in the ability to perceive foreign-accented speech, and the sources of this variability are poorly understood. Here we tested the hypothesis that individual differences in auditory processing help drive variability in accented speech perception. We asked L1 English speakers to perceive prosodic features in Mandarin-accented English. Individuals who could precisely discriminate pitch and accurately re…
Perception (21 obras) · Psychology (21 obras) · Cognitive psychology (19 obras) · Phonetics and Phonology Research (19 obras) · Speech perception (18 obras) · Neuroscience and Music Perception (17 obras) · Hearing Loss and Rehabilitation (13 obras) · Linguistics (13 obras) · Computer Science (11 obras) · Auditory perception (7 obras)