Lexically guided perceptual learning is robust to linguistically engaging distraction

Distracted listening can impede language comprehension. To inform the locus of disruption, we examined listeners’ ability to restructure speech sound categories using lexical information, which requires phonemic and lexical access. Listeners heard words that biased interpretation of an ambiguous fricative as either /s/ or /ʃ/. Linguistically engaging distractions were simultaneously presented in some conditions, and the task directed attention either to the auditory words or the distractor. In a subsequent test phase, robust learning was observed in all cases, suggesting that dynamic adaptation to atypical speech input is a natural consequence of lexical access that is neither task-related nor attention-requisite.