Abstract
This work proposes a procedure to measure the human capability to discriminate couples of English vocalic phonemes embedded into words. Using the analysis of the EEG response to auditory contrasts in an oddball paradigm experiment, the Medium Mismatch Negativity potential (MMN) is evaluated. When the discrimination is achieved, MMN has a negative amplitude while positive or zero MMN amplitudes correspond to the confusion of the two vocalic phonemes heard by the subject performing the experiment. The procedure presented has many potential usages for phonetic learning tools given its capability to automatically analyze discrimination of sounds. This permits its usage in interactive and adaptive applications able to keep track of the improvements made by the users.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Preview
Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.
References
Álvarez Pérez, A.: Discriminacin fonológica en aprendices de una segunda lengua. Evidencia electrofisiológica. Trabajo fin de Mster. Departamento de Psicologa Experimental, Universidad de Granada. Dirigido por Pedro Macizo Soria (2014)
Assmann, P.F., Katz, W.F., Jenouri, K.M., Hamilton, P.R.: Identification of natural and synthesized vowels produced by children and adults: Effects of formant frequency variation. Journal of the Acoustical Society of America 98, 2964 (1995)
Cheour, M., Ceponiene, R., Lehtokoski, A., Luuk, A., Allik, J., Alhoi, K., Ntnen, R.: Development of language-specific phoneme representations in the brain. Nature Neuroscience 1(5), 351–353 (1998)
Coltheart, M., et al.: DRC: A dual route cascaded model of visual word recognition and reading aloud. Psychological Review 108, 204–256
Jasper, H.: The Ten Twenty Electrode System of the International Federation. Electroenceph. Clin. Neurophysiol. 10, 371–375 (1958)
Khul, P.K., Williams, K.A., Lacerda, F., Stevens, K.N., Lindblom, B.: Linguistic Experiende Alters Phonetic Perception in Infants by 6 Months of Age. Science 255(5044), 606–608 (1992)
Lagerlund, T.D., Sharbrough, F.W., Busacker, N.E.: Spatial Filtering of Multichannel Electroencephalographic Recordings Through Principal Component Analysis by Singular Value Decomposition. Journal of Clinical Neurophysiology 14(1), 73–82 (1997)
Liberman, A.M., Mattingly, I.G.: The motor theory of speech perception revised. Cognition 4(21), 1–36 (1985)
Ntnen, R., Gaillard, A.W.K., Mantysalo, S.: Early selective-attention effect on evoked potential reinterpreted. Acta Psychologica 42, 313–329 (1978)
Ntnen, R.: The perception of speech sounds by the human brain as reflected by mismatch negativity. Psychophysiology 38, 1–21 (2001)
Ramus, F., White, S., Frith, U.: Weighing the evidence between competing theories of dyslexia. Developmental Science 9, 265–269 (2006)
Shestakova, A., Huotilainen, M., Ceponiene, R., Cheour, M.: Event-related potentials associated with second language learning in children. Clinical Neurophysiology 8(114), 1507–1512 (2003)
Weber-Fox, C.M., Neville, H.J.: Maturational Contrains on Functional Specializations for Language Processing: ERP and Behavioral Evidence in Bilinguals Speakers. Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience 8(3), 231–256 (1996)
Ziegler, J., et al.: Developmental dyslexia in different languages: Language-specific or universal? J. Experimental Child Psychology 86, 169–193 (2003)
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2015 Springer International Publishing Switzerland
About this paper
Cite this paper
Martínez, L.G., Pérez, A.Á., Ortúzar, C.B., Soria, P.M., Molina, T.B. (2015). English Phonetics: A Learning Approach Based on EEG Feedback Analysis. In: Ferrández Vicente, J., Álvarez-Sánchez, J., de la Paz López, F., Toledo-Moreo, F., Adeli, H. (eds) Artificial Computation in Biology and Medicine. IWINAC 2015. Lecture Notes in Computer Science(), vol 9107. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-18914-7_34
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-18914-7_34
Publisher Name: Springer, Cham
Print ISBN: 978-3-319-18913-0
Online ISBN: 978-3-319-18914-7
eBook Packages: Computer ScienceComputer Science (R0)