Effects of talker uncertainty II: Encoding speech into memory

Abstract

Individual talkers vary in a large number of articulatory and acoustic characteristics. Little research has been conducted concerning the effects of talker uncertainty on encoding speech into memory. In order to examine this problem, a serial‐ordered recall experiment was conducted. The stimuli were CVC monosyllabic English words produced by different male and female talkers. Listeners were presented with lists of ten items produced by a singler talker or lists of ten items produced by multiple talkers, and were required to recall the items in the order presented. Percent correct recall in the primary region of the serial position curve was lower as the amount of talker variability within the lists increased. The result suggest that the encoding of speech into memory is affected by uncertainty from trial to trial due to talker variability. The hypothesis that perceptual processes involved in talker normalization are located at an auditory‐to‐phonetic level will be discussed. [Work supported by NIH.]