Recognition memory for foreign- and native-accented sentences

Abstract

The acoustic-phonetic properties of speech signals affect not only their intelligibility, but also how well they are encoded in memory. Recognition memory can be improved, for example, when speakers intentionally speak clearly (Van Engen et al., 2012). One explanation for this result is that enhanced acoustic-phonetic cues reduce the cognitive effort associated with perceptual speech processing, thereby increasing the availability of processing resources for encoding speech content in memory. In the current study, we tested the hypothesis that, following the same logic, recognition memory would be reduced for foreign-accented speech, in which acoustic-phonetic cues deviate from native-language norms. Participants heard English sentences produced by a native speaker of English and a native speaker of Korean. Recognition memory was tested using an old-new judgment task in which participants heard those recordings again, along with an equal number of new items. Surprisingly, recognition memory was higher for Korean-accented English than for native-accented English. A follow-up study in which test sentences were presented visually showed no difference between foreign- and native-accented speech. These results are consistent with an acoustic distinctiveness account in which foreign-accented speech can in some cases be remembered more accurately due to its distinct acoustic features.