The categorical perception of Mandarin tones in normal aging seniors and seniors with Mild Cognitive Impairment

Yan Feng, Yaru Meng, Gang Peng

Research output: Chapter in book / Conference proceedingConference article published in proceeding or bookAcademic researchpeer-review

Abstract

Aging plays an important role in cognitive degradation. This study examined the behavioural performance of the categorical perception (CP) of Mandarin tones in young adults, normal aging older people, and those with Mild Cognitive Impairment (MCI). The results revealed that in the identification
function, boundary width of tone perception in MCI seniors was wider than that in young adults. In the discrimination function, the between-category accuracy in the MCI group was also significantly lower than that in young adults. No significant decline in tone perception was found in normal aging seniors, although they showed worse hearing sensitivity and cognitive ability compared with young adults. Our behavioural findings supported that the compensation mechanism might be observed in older people with normal performance, rather than those with degraded performance.
Original languageEnglish
Title of host publicationProceedings of the 19th International Congress of Phonetic Sciences (ICPhS 2019)
EditorsSasha Calhoun, Paola Escudero, Marija Tabain, Paul Warren
Pages909-913
Publication statusPublished - Aug 2019
EventThe 19th International Congress of the Phonetic Sciences (ICPhS 2019) - Melbourne, Australia
Duration: 5 Aug 20199 Aug 2019

Conference

ConferenceThe 19th International Congress of the Phonetic Sciences (ICPhS 2019)
Country/TerritoryAustralia
CityMelbourne
Period5/08/199/08/19

Keywords

  • Categorical perception
  • Mandarin tone
  • aging effect
  • cognitive degradation
  • compensation

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