Examining the role of talker‐specific details in bilingual listeners’ perception of spoken words.

Abstract

Previous studies demonstrate that listeners are faster to recognize words recently spoken by the same talker, relative to a different talker. However, there is evidence that such talker effects are more robust when processing is relatively slow. The purpose of the present study was to examine talker effects in bilingual listeners as a function of whether the listeners were hearing words in their first (L1) or second (L2) language. More specifically, in the present study, conducted in Spanish, we examined whether talker changes would affect bilinguals differently, depending on whether Spanish was their L1 (Spanish‐English bilinguals) or their L2 (English‐Spanish bilinguals). Given that bilinguals typically process their L2 more slowly than their L1, the results were expected to reveal greater talker effects in English‐Spanish than in Spanish‐English bilinguals. The present study should provide a greater understanding of the role that talker variability plays in bilingual listeners’ online perception of spoken words.