The effects of motor practice on coarticulatory interactions in the speech of children and adults
Kimberly Wieberg · Digital Scholarship - UNLV (University of Nevada Reno) · 2019
The current study was designed to elucidate the role of practice on speech production. Specifically, this investigation examined the effects of a distributed practice schedule on speech productions in young children and adults. Unlike the practice period used in previous studies, the practice session utilized in this investigation was spread out over one week (distributed over time), in which participants were required to practice on three different occasions before being retested. Therefore, the purpose of this investigation is to examine the notion of a developmental trend of coarticulation in children by verifying whether or not speech production strategies as exhibited by coarticulatory interactions are influenced by a distributed practice schedule. Participants were three-year olds, eight-year olds, and adults who were pre-tested, trained for one week, and post-tested. The data substantiates the developmental coarticulatory effects across age groups and demonstrated that this coarticulation can be affected by practice.