Rhythmic and segmental perception are not independent

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Abstract
The 36 basic ’’sentences’’ in the experiment were six‐syllable nonsense sequences of the form DAS a LAS a GAS a or a DAS a BAS a LAS. Either (a) one vowel in the sentence was lengthened or shortened by about 50, 90, or 130 ms by computer‐editing routines, or (b) the sentence was left intact (as spoken). The resulting perceptual impression after the vowel change was a change of tempo within the sentence. Vowel changes occurred systematically throughout the sentences, in one of syllables one through five. Reaction time (RT) was recorded to assigned target segments /b, d, or g/ in one of syllables one through six, and RT was compared to targets in tempo‐changed versus intact sentences (these were acoustically identical except for the distorted vowel). The listeners responded to over 2000 versions of the sentences. The results were: (a) Tempo changes generally increased segment target RT. (b) Tempo‐change effects were ubiquitous; for instance, vowel changes in the first syllable increased RT to targets in later syllables, and the reach of effects spanned four syllables. Both vowel shortening and lengthening increased target RT. (c) Effects attributed to processing time decreased, whereas effects attributed to stimulus expectancy increased, with time into the sentence. (d) Tempo‐change effects persisted throughout the experiment despite practice and familiarity with stimuli. The conclusions were: (a) The effects of time distortion of the stimulus on target RT were produced mainly by changes in stimulus‐induced expectancy, not changes in processing time. (b) The expected input to perception is the acoustically intact utterance in both its rhythmic and segmental aspects; these aspects are not perceived independently.

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