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Distinctive Feature Control of Decision Time: Same-Different Judgments Of EXPERIMENT 1 Distinctive feature control of decision time: Method Subjects. Forty right-handed undergraduate students from the Same-different judgments of University of Waterloo served as Ss. Their participation partially fulfilled a simultaneously heard phonemes course requirement in introductory psychology. Stimuli. The consonant phonemes RONALD A. COLE and BRIAN SCOTT Ib, m, v, g, d, n, Z, sl and the vowel University of Waterloo, Waterloo, Ontario, Canada phonemes Ii, I, e, ae, u, U, 0, al were used as stimuli. All consonant Ss decided whether dichotically presented consonant or vowel phonemes were phonemes were paired with the vowel "same" or "different" in a reaction time (RT) task. Results indicated that t e }, The distinctive·feature "different" responses were made on the basis of a serial, self-terminating scan of composition of these phonemes, distinctive feature differences between phonemes. "Same" responses were according to Halle's (1962, 1964) considered too fast to be accounted for by this process and were discussed as a distinctive-feature system, is shown in separate parallel process. Recognition of dichotically presented syllables appears Table 1. It can be seen that each vowel to involve a third process in which phonemes are also identified in terms of their phoneme is uniquely described by a + distinctive features. or - value on five acoustic dimensions, while each consonant phoneme is It is a general rule that the more similarity of the two syllables. uniquely described by a binary value different two stimuli are, the faster There is some evidence to support on six dimensions. one may decide that they are different this notion. Chananie and Tikofsky It can be seen in Table 1 that pho­ (Egeth, 1966; Bamber, 1969). (1968) found no difference in the RT to nemes vary greatly in terms oftheir dis­ Experiments that have tested this successively heard single-syllable words tinctive features. For example, IiI and notion by examining reaction time which differed in their initial [e] differ by only one distinctive fea­ (RT) to successively heard phonemes consonants by one, two, three, or four ture, while taal and lUI differ by five differing by few or many distinctive distinctive features. This result distinctive features. Similarly [tn] and features have yielded ambiguous suggests that phonemes were recorded Ibl differ by a single distinctive results. For example, McInish and into word representatives in auditory feature, while Iml and 1st differ by six Tikofsky (1969) presented Ss with memory and these word distinctive features. successive pairs of spoken consonants representatives could be compared To insure accurate reproduction of (paired with la/) that either were the without reference to individual a particular stimulus on a given trial, same or differed by one or two phonemes or their distinctive features. the 16 consonant and vowel phonemes distinctive features, according to the One way to decrease the possibility were recorded in a male voice and Miller-Nicely (1955) distinctive feature that Ss use the time between stored on disk tape in an IBM 360/44 system. Ss were required to decide, as successive presentations of a stimulus computer. Each sound was cut to a quickly as possible, whether the to recode a phoneme from a set of length of exactly 250 msec to insure second consonant was the same as the distinctive features to a name code is simultaneity of onset and offset. The first. It was found that RT was fastest to present two phonemes stimuli were recorded onto magnetic for "same" responses, and faster for simultaneously during a recognition tape by attaching a Sony Model pairs of consonants that differed by task. The present experiment was TC540 stereo tape recorder to the two, rather than one, distinctive designed to test this hypothesis for computer output and programming features. dichotically presented pairs of the computer to play the required In a similar procedure, Cole consonants and vowels. It was phonemes simultaneously into (unpublished data) presented Ss with predicted that the more different two separate channels of the tape recorder. pairs of spoken consonants (C, D, P, consonants or vowels are in terms of The computer also recorded a T) or vowels (E, A, 0, "00") their distinctive·feature composition, 250-msec warning tone on Channel A separated by .5, 2, or 8 sec in a the faster S will decide that they are 2 sec prior to the onset of the stimuli. same-different RT task. While "same" different. The onset of the stimulus recorded on responses were faster than "different" responses, no differences were found in RT to consonants or vowels differing by one, two, or three Table 1 distinctive features. Distinctive Feature Composition of Consonant and Vowel It is possible that Ss in Cole's Phonemes Used In This Experiment experiment originally identified each spoken letter in terms of its distinctive Ibl lm] lv] Igl Idl Inl [z] lsI features, but recoded each syllable Grave + + + + into a higher-order response. This Diffuse + + + + + + could be accomplished, for example, if Strident + + + S generated the letter name Nasal + + corresponding to each syllable (e.g., Continuant + + + "p" for Ipi/) prior to the presentation Voiced + + + + + + + of the second syllable. In this case, when S was presented with the second IiI III [e] leI luI lUI 101 lal syllable, he would convert this Flat + + + stimulus to a letter in order to make a Compact + + same-different judgment. Therefore, Diffuse + + + + one would not expect RT to vary as a Grave + + + + function of the distinctive-feature Tense + + + + + Perception & Psychophysics, 1972, Vol. 12 (1B) Copyright 1972, Psychonomic Society, Austin, Texas 91 Warning Stimulus A EXPERIMENT 2 Tone The localization data revealed that S AJI._---=-~_...:...-2 sec 7 sec could be responding 'different" to Channel pairs of consonants based on their 250 msec 250 msec subjective localization, rather than comparing the sounds in terms of their distinctive features (of course, it is possible that localization could be based on a distinctive-feature comparison). In order to eliminate S's Stimulus B ability to localize the consonant sounds, an experimental tape was Channel B ......r1... _ prepared in which the two stimuli on each trial were always presented in 250 msec different voices. Thus, one sound on each trial was spoken in a male voice, while the other was spoken in a female Fig. 1. Placement of stimuli on a single dichotic trial. voice. This manipulation does not affect the relative distinctive-feature Channel B activated a Hunter Analysis of variance revealed that RT similarities of the sounds. However, 100-msec timer, which was stopped by varied as a function of the the localization data from 10 Ss S's "same-different" response to the distinctive-feature similarity of the presented with 58 mixed-voice pairs two stimuli. A 7-sec pause separated stimulus pair (F = 7.07, df = 5/190, revealed that S always heard the two successive trials. A typical stimulus p < .001). Again, there was no sounds at each ear, even when the sequence is illustrated in Fig. l. interaction between phoneme type same syllable was presented to both Procedure. Ss were assigned and phonemic distinctive-feature ears. Since presenting the stimuli in randomly to either the consonant similarity. two voices eliminates localization group or the vowel group. Each S was One possible explanation of these effects due to the distinctive-feature presented with 224 trials consisting of data is that S was responding "same" similarity of the consonant phonemes, each sound paired with itself 14 times or "different" to each pair of sounds Ss were presented with these stimuli for a total of 112 "same" trials and based on their apparent localization in for same-different judgments in aRT paired with each of the other seven his head. For example, "same" experiment. sounds twice (once to each ear) for a responses might be based on hearing total of 112 "different" trials. "Same" the two sounds fuse into a single Subjects and "different" trials were presented sound near the center of the head, Twenty right-handed undergraduate in random order. while "different" responses would be students from the University of Each S was seated at a small table, based on hearing the sounds as further Waterloo served as Ss. All Ss were holding a two-way toggle switch apart. Since distinctive features students in an introductory grasped between his thumb and provide a general description of the psychology course, although forefinger. S was instructed to move physical similarity of any two sounds, participation was voluntary. the switch to the right as quickly as pairs differing by many distinctive possible when the stimuli in both ears features could be localized furthest were the same and to the left when the apart in the head. stimuli were different. Stimuli were If this reasoning is correct, one presented to S via a Sony Model would expect to find an orderly TC540 stereo tape recorder and Koss relationship between the Pr04A stereo headphones, so that distinctive-feature similarity of two stimuli were heard simultaneously in sounds and their subjective both ears. After each trial, E recorded localization in the head. To test this S's RT. The experiment commenced hypothesis, 20 naive Ss were randomly • following 10 practice trials. presented with 58 pairs of either consonants or vowels, and asked to localize the two sounds. S localized Results the sound by placing the appropriate .. Analysis of variance revealed that mark(s) on a semicircle representing •;:: RT for "same" responses was not the top 90 deg of a circle with a radius significantly faster than RT for of 32 mm. "different" responses. However, the Table 2 displays the mean o faster RT for consonants than for separation in millimeters for pairs of vowels (595 vs 716 msec) was consonants and vowels differing by 0 c .
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