Blog Archives

Statistical learning of phonetic categories: Insights from a computational approach

Posted on 1 May 2009 by Joe Toscano

McMurray, B., Aslin, R. N., & Toscano, J. C. (2009). Developmental Science, 12, 369-378.

Abstract: Recent evidence (Maye, Werker & Gerken, 2002) suggests that statistical learning may be an important mechanism for the acquisition of phonetic categories in the infant’s native language. We examined the sufficiency of this hypothesis and its implications for development by implementing a statistical learning mechanism in a computational model based on a mixture of Gaussians (MOG) architecture... Read more →

Tagged with: computational modeling, gaussian mixture models, speech development, speech perception, statistical learning, voice onset time
Posted in Journal Articles

Using the distributional statistics of speech sounds for weighting and integrating acoustic cues

Posted on 1 Jul 2008 by Joe Toscano

Toscano, J. C. & McMurray, B. (2008). In B. C. Love, K. McRae, & V. M. Sloutsky (Eds.), Proceedings of the 30th Annual Conference of the Cognitive Science Society (pp. 433-438). Austin, TX: Cognitive Science Society.

Abstract: A great deal of behavioral evidence suggests that infants can use distributional statistics to learn speech sound categories. .. Read more →

Tagged with: computational modeling, cue integration, cue weighting, gaussian mixture models, speech development, speech perception, statistical learning, unsupervised learning
Posted in Refereed conference proceedings

Integrating acoustic cues to phonetic features

Posted on 1 Oct 2007 by Joe Toscano

A computational approach to cue weighting

Toscano, J. C. and McMurray, B. (2007, October). Poster presented at Where Do Features Come From? Phonological Primitives in the Brain, the Mouth, and the Ear. Paris, France.

Abstract:

A central issue in phonology and speech perception is the relationship between acoustic cues in the speech signal and the features they correspond to... Read more →

Tagged with: computational modeling, cue integration, cue weighting, gaussian mixture models, phonological features, speech perception, statistical learning, unsupervised learning, voicing, vot
Posted in Presentations

Learning positional variation and place of articulation in stop consonants from the distributional statistics of acoustic cues

Posted on 1 Oct 2007 by Joe Toscano

Toscano, J. C., Galle, M. E., and McMurray, B. (2007, October). Poster presented at the 13th Midcontinental Workshop on Phonology, Ohio State University, Columbus, OH.

PDF of poster.. Read more →

Tagged with: allophones, computational modeling, speech development, statistical learning, unsupervised learning
Posted in Presentations

Taking statistical learning to the next level

Posted on 1 Mar 2007 by Joe Toscano

A computational approach to the acquisition of multi-dimensional categories

Toscano, J. C. and McMurray, B. (2007, March). Poster presented at the 2007 Biennial Meeting of the Society for Research in Child Development, Boston, MA.

PDF of poster.. Read more →

Tagged with: computational modeling, cue integration, cue weighting, gaussian mixture models, statistical learning, unsupervised learning
Posted in Presentations

Acoustic cue integration in natural speech

Posted on 1 Oct 2006 by Joe Toscano

Empirical and computational results

Toscano, J. C. and McMurray, B. (2006, October). Talk presented at the 12th Midcontinental Workshop on Phonology, University of Iowa, Iowa City, IA.

Abstract:

Multiple acoustic cues in the speech signal often contribute to a single phonetic categorization. For example, in the perception of word-initial voicing in stop consonants, voice onset time (VOT) and vowel length have both been shown to influence voicing judgments (Summerfield, 1981)... Read more →

Tagged with: computational modeling, context effects, cue integration, speaking rate, trading relations, voice onset time, voicing, vowel length
Posted in Presentations