Tag: Melissa Baese-Berk

The competitive relationship between linguistic perception and production when learning a new sound contrast

Presenter(s): Tillena Trebon—Linguistics, Spanish

Co-Presenter(s): Zoe Haupt, Allegra Wesson, Maggie Wallace

Faculty Mentor(s): Dr. Melissa Baese-Berk, Dr. Zachary Jaggers

Session 6: Cerebal Matters

This research investigates the connection between perception and production when learning to discriminate between unfamiliar sounds . It is commonly assumed that humans use the same neural mechanisms for recognizing a spoken sound and producing a sound . If this assumption is correct, when we get better at perceiving sounds, we should also get better at producing them, and vice versa . Our research asks: Do linguistic perception and production utilize the same neural processes? Does one get better at perceiving the difference between two sounds by producing them? To answer these questions, experiment participants were trained on a new sound contrast . In the “Perception and production” condition, subjects produced the sounds during training . In the “Perception only” condition, subjects did not produce sounds during training . Results show that “Perception only” participants learned to perceive the difference between the sounds they were trained on . “Perception and production” participants did not learn the contrast nearly as well . Our research challenges traditional assumptions of linguistic perception and production by showing that the relationship between perceiving and producing new sounds appears competitive . Our research reveals that producing new sounds while learning to discriminate between those sounds hinders perceptual learning . Our results are consistent with recent research, which also show that perception and production may not utilize the same neural mechanisms . These results shed light on the complex language acquisition mechanisms in the brain . Understanding the relationship between linguistic perception and production is essential for optimizing second language teaching methods and for understanding how humans acquire language .

Perception of Language and Gender

Presenter(s): Ava Reisman—Exploring

Co-Presenter(s): Cece Locati, Nico Sorensen, Hannah Hannley Faculty

Mentor(s): Melissa Baese-Berk

Session: Prerecorded Poster Presentation

Communication is one of the main ways humans perceive one another . By engaging in a conversation, more detail is likely to form one’s perception of an individual . Linguistically, we can display a specific message to an audience and have it understood, but what are the other factors involved in one’s interpretation of the information received and how is it linked to gender? Throughout history, the physical form has been used to deplete the voice of intelligent speakers through societal bias against genders . Our focal point is an individual perception which we believe to be a product of traditional gender roles and most recently the pressures that outside sources like the media place on gender today . The end goal of our research is working towards an explanation of the biases that men and women face in both professional settings and in everyday life . By conducting our study we hope to help the community search for deeper equality between genders .

How Does Our Background Influence Social Output?

Presenter(s): Kathryn Paulus—Linguistics, Pre-International Studies

Co-Presenter(s): Claire Amistoso, Bryan Salazar, Owen Morgan

Faculty Mentor(s): Melissa Baese-Berk

Session 1: Human Behavior—I am Who I Am

Recently, intersectionality has been used to analyze social dynamics around the world . We recognize that everyone comes from different places and has many different experiences . To operationalize social background, we divided social background into four subsections: race/ ethnicity, socioeconomic, language and gender . Our research focuses on how people express each subsection of social background . We plan on releasing a survey that focuses on four major topics by asking a series of questions within each topic . Because of the current situation of the world, we plan on releasing this survey on our social media platforms such as Snapchat and Instagram . The significance of this research is to identify the results of intersectionality through social output from diverse backgrounds .

Focusing on those aspects of our lives is something that not everyone around the world fully realizes yet, as we only focus on either one or two of those . So it’s a topic that we as a research group want to focus as to how everything builds up to one point in our lives and how impactful it is for better or for worse .

Demographic Influences on Perception of Singular They/Them Pronouns

Presenter(s): Danni Black—Linguistics

Co-Presenter(s): Mel Birke, Lydia Murtha, Sam Montagne

Faculty Mentor(s): Melissa Baese-Berk

Session 1: Speech and Sound—Can you Hear Me?

A society does not just have one characteristic, it has many . Not only that, but those traits often influence and alter one another . While this is known and observable for traditional relations, such as gender and race, it is not as established for concepts that are later introduced into a society rather than initially integrated . Such is the case for the pronouns of they/them in American society . In order to determine how one’s previous societal roles and beliefs affect their perception and acceptance/ rejection of the pronouns of “they/them” and alternative gender identities in general in a linguistic state . To do this, we plan to submit a digital survey to students and staff of as many kinds as we can gain access to at the University of Oregon . In this survey we will include cultural identifiers such as race, gender, socioeconomic status, affiliation with the LGBTQ+ community, and more . Then we will observe that data to determine if there is a statistical significance among our subjects between one of those traits and their perception of “they/them” pronouns . Additionally, there is an option on the survey where subjects can express their desire to participate in an interview to elaborate on their views and the development of those views . This interview will be conducted remotely and respectfully, and will provide us with a more in-depth explanation and conclusion of the research being conducted .

The role of financial rewards in foreign accent perception

Presenter(s): Chasen Afghani—Linguistics

Faculty Mentor(s): Melissa Baese-Berk, Glen Waddell

Session 1: Speech and Sound—Can you Hear Me?

Native speakers often have challenges understanding non-native speech . Previous studies have shown that both cognitive and social factors affect perception of non-native speech by native speakers . It has also been demonstrated that native listeners can improve at this task over time . In the current study we ask how financial rewards affect adaptation to non-native speech . Two subject groups were asked to transcribe unfamiliar, non-native accented speech stimuli . The control group was asked to transcribe the speech as accurately as possible . The experimental group was given similar instructions, with an additional note that they will receive monetary compensation corresponding to the accuracy of their transcriptions . Here, we examine accuracy and learning over the course of the experiment . We hypothesize that the experimental group will start the study with a higher level of accuracy, will have a steeper learning curve throughout the study, and will demonstrate greater accuracy at the end of the experiment . This work will add to a growing body of evidence that a variety of factors impact listeners’ ability to understand unfamiliar accented speech, and that these factors also impact adaptation over time .

How Labels Affect Our Self-Confidence

Presenter(s): Isabel Acker—Sociology

Co-Presenter(s): Sofia Chicote, McKenna Porter, Spencer Thoene

Faculty Mentor(s): Melissa Baese-Berk

Session 2: Oregon Trails

The goal of our research project is to answer the question of how labels affect people’s lives and their level of self-confidence . More specifically, we are focusing on college-age students at the University of Oregon for our study . We hope to find data that shows how the labels people choose for themselves, and that others choose for them, have an effect on the level of confidence college-age people have . We want to see if the way that other people perceive individuals has an effect on the self-confidence of the individual . We also hope to determine if there is a difference in the level of confidence people have when they are describing themselves, or when they are describing the labels other people have given them . To accurately conduct this, we’re asking open-ended questions to keep it inclusive . First, we will ask permission to use their answers in our research . We will ask about their name, gender, ethnicity . . .etc, in an open-ended format . We will ask them to rate their self-confidence in different social groups, and when they are by themselves, and see how those differ . We want to ask questions that are detailed and more towards a response describing someone’s affiliations . We hope to be able to compare the way in which your self-identifications coexist and relate to the stereotypes and affiliations that the world would describe us as . We then would like to find the correlation between the two and directly connect that to our self-confidence .