Individual differences in cue weights are correlated across contrasts

Abstract

When listeners make judgments about phonological contrasts, they integrate different acoustic dimensions putting more weight on some than others. Individuals differ in how they weight different cues. Schultz, Francis & Llanos (2012) found that weights for VOT and f0 as cues to initial stop voicing in English are weakly positively correlated across individuals. We ask whether this is specific to VOT and f0 or a more general property of cue weighting across individuals. Secondly, across contrasts do the same listeners have stronger cue weights? 43 listeners performed a 2AFC task for four sets of minimal pairs that each varied orthogonally in two dimensions. All heard bet-bat and Luce-lose (vowel spectral quality vs. duration) and bog-dog (burst spectrum vs. formant transitions). 24 participants also heard sock-shock (sibilant spectrum vs. formant transitions) and the other 19 heard dear-tear (VOT vs. f0). Cue weights were fit with random slopes in a logistic regression for each minimal pair. Weights were positively correlated across individuals both within and across contrasts for bet-bat, Luce-lose, and sock-shock. Bog-dog and dear-tear had less consistent results. Overall this indicates that some individuals are better able to extract and use acoustic-phonetic information across different acoustic dimensions.