This study aims to test a prediction of recent
theoretical frameworks in speech motor control: if
speech production targets are specified in auditory
terms, people with better auditory acuity should
have more precise speech targets.
To investigate this, we had participants perform
speech perception and production tasks in a
counterbalanced order. To assess speech perception
acuity, we used an adaptive speech discrimination
task. To assess variability in speech production,
participants performed a pseudo-word reading task;
formant values were measured for each recording.
We predicted that speech production variability to
correlate inversely with discrimination performance.
The results suggest that people do vary in their
production and perceptual abilities, and that better
discriminators have more distinctive vowel
production targets, confirming our prediction. This
study highlights the importance of individual
differences in the study of speech motor control, and
sheds light on speech production-perception
interaction.