Aging effect on categorical perception of Mandarin level-rising and level-falling tones

Abstract

The primary purpose of the study was to investigate the aging effect on categorical perception of Mandarin Chinese tone 1 (level F0 pitch contour) and tone 2 (rising F0 pitch contour), as well as tone 1 and tone 4 (falling F0 pitch contour). Using level/rising and level/falling fundamental frequency continuum, both tone identification and discrimination was measured for older and younger native Mandarin listeners. Moreover, the stimuli duration was manipulated at 100, 200, and 400 ms with a purpose to examine whether longer duration made tone perception easier for the older listeners. Results reported reduced catgoricality in terms of shallower identification slope and smaller discrimination peakedness for the older listeners compared with their younger counterparts. Meanwhile, longer duration was observed with enhanced categorical perception of lexical tones for the older listeners. These results were interpreted as the decline of aging-related temporal/spectral processing and inhibitory control in the central auditory system.