Adaptive Dispersion in Vowel Perception

Abstract

The ‘hyperspace effect’ in vowel perception may be taken as evidence that adaptive dispersion is an active perceptual process. However, a previous study tested for adaptive dispersion in isolated vowel stimuli spoken in a voice unfamiliar to the listeners. The experiment reported in this paper addressed both of these potential concerns and found that both consonant context and talker familiarity modulate the hyperspace effect. However, the reductions induced by context and familiarity were slight. Listeners’ preferred perceptual spaces remained hyperarticulated relative to the production vowel space.