Adaptation and aftereffects in response to bite block perturbation

Abstract

Although speakers can instantly adapt to the presence of a bite block (BB), they also refine their compensatory behavior over time. However, the extent to which BB perturbations elicit aftereffects and the mechanisms that contribute to refinement and aftereffects remain unknown. In this study, speakers belonging to either a practice or a no-practice group produced sentence repetitions under five conditions: PRE-BB (jaw-free), BB1 (jaw-fixed, initial BB exposure), BB2 (jaw-fixed, after 20 minutes of BB exposure), POST1 (jaw-free, immediately after BB removal), POST2 (jaw-free, one minute after BB removal). All speakers held a 10mm BB in place for 20 minutes with the practice group reading aloud and the no-practice group sitting quietly. Jaw and posterior tongue kinematics were examined during the vowel /i/ embedded in the word “please” using electromagnetic articulography. Preliminary findings (14 speakers) revealed a significant main effect of condition only. That is, relative to PRE-BB, tongue height did...