# DEVELOPMENTAL STUDIES OF SPEECH PERCEPTION

> **NIH NIH R01** · BROWN UNIVERSITY · 1994 · $150,190

## Abstract

The major goals of the proposed research are to add to our knowledge of
the capacities of young infants to perceive speech, to our understanding
of the developing phonetic competence of young infants, and to a theory
of speech perception by providing data bearing on the nature of the
mechanisms that serve the perception of speech, that is, whether
specialized for speech perception or general auditory processes, or both.

More specifically, a series of experiments are planned with adult
listeners that investigate the processes of integration (i.e.,
organization) of spatially separate sources of acoustic information,
dichotically presented, that together form coherent linguistic units --
words in the case of adult listeners.  These experiments are planned with
the aim of describing the conditions under which integration occurs, that
is, the conditions under which listeners treat information from different
locations as the consequence of a single articulatory source.  Additional
experiments are planned that examine whether different linguistic units,
segments as opposed to syllables, integrate more easily.  In the same
vein, experiments will test whether units that violate the presumed
hierarchical structures of syllables affect processes of integration.

Many of these experiments will be replicated with infants three and four
months of age.  The aim is to determine the breadth of the processes of
integration and organization in the perception of speech by infants and
whether these processes are influenced by the nature of the linguistic
unit to be integrated.  Evidence showing an effect of such units provides
information about how speech is represented by infants and additional
support for the contention that the acquisition of language, even in its
earliest stages, is driven (in part) by processes of a linguistic nature.

A second series of experiments with infants is proposed that will examine
the structure of consonantal and vocalic categories in three- and four-
month-old infants and in younger and older infants depending on the
outcome of initial studies.  Of particular concern is the age at which
categorical structures can be demonstrated and whether these structures
are determined by brief experience with various category exemplars.  We
are particularly interested in whether these structures are influenced
by brief experience with nontypical exemplars.  The existence of
structures at an early age that are relatively insensitive to brief
laboratory experience to various arrays of exemplars is compatible with
the idea that both the categories of speech and their structures have a
strong biological determination.

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 2194887
- **Project number:** 5R01HD005331-24
- **Recipient organization:** BROWN UNIVERSITY
- **SAM.gov UEI:** E3FDXZ6TBHW3
- **Principal Investigator:** PETER D EIMAS
- **Activity code:** R01 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 1994
- **Award amount:** $150,190
- **Award type:** 5
- **Project period:** 1976-09-01 → 1997-11-30

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/2194887

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 2194887, DEVELOPMENTAL STUDIES OF SPEECH PERCEPTION (5R01HD005331-24). Retrieved via MORVS 2026-10-25 from https://api.morvs.ai/grant/nih/2194887. Licensed CC0.

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