Speech Production: Evidence for Corollary-Discharge Stabilization of Perceptual Mechanisms

Warren (1961) reported that if one listens to a particular speech sound that is repeated over-and-over it will soon be heard as a different speech sound, a phenomenon that he has called the “verbal transformation effect.” 12 Ss participated in an experiment which demonstrated that a syllable one repeats aloud to himself will remain perceptually stable; nevertheless, if one then listens to a tape-recording of his own repetitions of the syllable, then he will hear it undergo transformations. Apparently, during the self-production of a speech sound, the perceptual mechanisms involved in its reception are alerted for that particular linguistic entity and as a consequence perceptual stability is maintained.