Speech perception by the chinchilla: Identification functions for synthetic VOT stimuli
Abstract
In an attempt to clearly differentiate perceptual effects that are attributable to ’’auditory’’ and ’’phonetic’’ levels of processing in speech perception we have undertaken a series of experiments with animal listeners. Four chinchillas (Chinchilla laniger) were trained to respond differently to the ’’endpoints’’ of a synthetic alveolar speech continuum (0 ms VOT and +80 ms VOT) and were then tested in a generalization paradigm with the VOT stimuli between these endpoints. The resulting identification functions were nearly identical to those obtained with adult English-speaking listeners. To test the generality of this agreement, the animals were then tested with synthetic stimuli that had labial and velar places of articulation. As a whole, the functions produced by the two species were very similar; the same relative locations of the phonetic boundaries, with lowest VOT boundaries for labial stimuli and highest for velar stimuli, were obtained for each animal and human subject. No significant differences between species on the absolute values of the phonetic boundaries were obtained, but chinchillas produced identification functions that were slightly, but significantly, less steep. These results are discussed with regard to theories of speech perception, the evolution of a speech-sound repertoire, and current interpretations of the human infant’s perceptual proclivities with regard to speech-sound perception.
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Animals exhibit categorical perception, with perceptual boundaries at locations where humans perceive a shift from one phonetic category to another.
“Animals also exhibited categorical perception; they demonstrated perceptual “boundaries” at locations where humans perceive a shift from one phonetic category to another (18, 19) (Fig. 3).”
From A new view of language acquisition (2000) · cites this paper as [19]
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Is Infants' Learning of Sound Patterns Constrained by Phonological Features?
Cristià, A., & Seidl, A. H. (2008) · Language Learning and Development · doi:10.1080/15475440802143109 · Cited by 76 · see citing works
“That is, even chinchillas perceive the categorical boundary between voiced and voiceless stops at different VOT values depending on the place of articulation, suggesting that this discontinuity may respond to a basic property of mammals' auditory systems ( Kuhl & Miller, 1978 ).”
BackgroundSpeech evoked activity in the auditory radiations and cortex of the awake monkey
Steinschneider, M., Arezzo, J. C., & Vaughan, H. G. (1982) · Brain Research · doi:10.1016/0006-8993(82)90403-6 · Cited by 76 · see citing works
Time-critical integration of formants for perception of communication calls in mice
Geissler, D. B., & Ehret, G. (2002) · Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences · doi:10.1073/pnas.122606499 · Cited by 77 · see citing works
Burnham, D. K., Earnshaw, L. J., & Clark, J. E. H. (1991) · Journal of Child Language · doi:10.1017/s0305000900011041 · Cited by 71 · see citing works
The case against a speech mode of perception
Schouten, M. E. H. (1980) · Acta Psychologica · doi:10.1016/0001-6918(80)90077-3 · Cited by 72 · see citing works
“This conclusion is supported by Kuhl and Miller (1978), who report that it is possible to train chinchillas in such a way that they achieve human performance in identifying stimuli along a VOT continuum.”
BackgroundPhase-locked cortical responses to a human speech sound and low-frequency tones in the monkey
Steinschneider, M., Arezzo, J. C., & Vaughan, H. G. (1980) · Brain Research · doi:10.1016/0006-8993(80)90345-5 · Cited by 71 · see citing works
New Insights Into Old Puzzles From Infants' Categorical Discrimination of Soundless Phonetic Units
Baker, S. A., Golinkoff, R. M., & Petitto, L. (2006) · Language Learning and Development · doi:10.1207/s15473341lld0203_1 · Cited by 70 · see citing works
“The claim has been weakened by research showing that certain nonhumans also exhibit categorical discrimination (CD) for human speech sounds (Kluender, Diehl, & Killeen, 1987; Kuhl, 1981; Kuhl & Miller, 1975, 1978; Kuhl & Padden, 1982, 1983; Morse & Snowdon, 1975; Waters & Wilson, 1976) and by research demonstrating CD…”
BackgroundBenkı́, J. R. (2001) · Journal of Phonetics · doi:10.1006/jpho.2000.0128 · Cited by 67 · see citing works
“Finally, the relation between [voice] categorization and the main variables of VOT, F 1 transition pattern, and place of articulation is quanti"ed using the results of the logistic regression analysis (Fig.”
BackgroundResultInfluentialLIEBERMAN, P. H. (1990) · Behavioral and Brain Sciences · doi:10.1017/s0140525x0008119x · Cited by 67 · see citing works
Neural and behavioral correlates of auditory categorization
Russ, B. E., Lee, Y. S., & Cohen, Y. E. (2007) · Hearing Research · doi:10.1016/j.heares.2006.10.010 · Cited by 65 · see citing works
“Comparable results were found with chinchillas as well (Kuhl and Miller, 1975, 1978).”
Result
- Authors
- Kuhl, P. K., & Miller, J. D.
- Affiliations
- Central Institute for the Deaf (US)
- Venue
- The Journal of the Acoustical Society of America
- Publisher
- Acoustical Society of America (ASA)
- Published
- 1978-03-01
- Volume
- 63
- Issue
- 3
- Pages
- 905-917
- ISSN
- 0001-4966 (ISSN-L)
- 1520-8524
- OpenAlex
- W2026219038
- Cited by
- 430
- References
- 0
- Citations by year
- 2026: 3 · 2025: 2 · 2024: 1 · 2023: 7 · 2022: 5 · 2021: 5 · 2020: 5 · 2019: 10 · 2018: 24 · 2017: 6 · 2016: 17 · 2015: 8 · 2014: 9 · 2013: 10 · 2012: 13
- FWCI
- 9.72
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- closed
- Locations
- The Journal of the Acoustical Society of America (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- Funders
- National Institutes of Health
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Experimental and Cognitive Psychology › Phonetics and Phonology Research
- Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Cognitive Neuroscience › Neuroscience and Music Perception
- Life Sciences › Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology › Developmental Biology › Animal Vocal Communication and Behavior
- Keywords
- speech perception, chinchilla, Chinchilla lanigera, voice onset time, identification function, phonetic boundaries, cross-species comparison, infant speech perception
- MeSH terms
- Acoustics, Adult, Animals, Auditory Perception, Chinchilla, Biological Evolution, Humans, Infant, Phonetics, Species Specificity, Speech, Time Factors, Voice
About these checks
Registry, retraction, Cites and statistics results are computed, not judged, with one exception: a printed reference that no index lists is read once by a model before it counts as a citation error. Claims are extracted by a model and kept only when their quote appears verbatim in the text; each cited source is then checked, with a model’s help, for whether it says what the claim relies on. Those verdicts can be wrong — read the claim’s quote and the cited source before relying on one.
Statistics and arithmetic are recomputed, not judged.
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