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TY - GEN ID - cogprints743 UR - http://cogprints.org/743/ A1 - Pallier, C. A1 - Bosch, L. A1 - Sebastian-Gall�s, N. Y1 - 1997/09// N2 - It is well attested that we perceive speech through the filter of our native language: a classic example is that of Japanese listeners who cannot discriminate between the American /l/ and /r/ and identify both as their own /r/ phoneme (Goto, 1971). Studies in the laboratory have shown, however, that perception of non-native speech sounds can be learned through training (Lively, Pisoni, Yamada, & Tohkura, 1994). This is consistent with neurophysiological evidence showing considerable experience-dependent plasticity in the brain at the first levels of sensory processing (Edeline & Weinberger, 1993; Kraus, et al., 1995; Merzenich & Sameshima, 1993; Weinberger, 1993). Outside of the laboratory, however, the situation seems to differ: we here report a study involving Spanish-Catalan bilingual subjects who have had the best opportunities to learn a new contrast but did not do it. Our study demonstrates a striking lack of behavioral plasticity: early and extensive exposure to a second language is not sufficient to attain the ultimate phonological competence of native speakers. KW - psycholinguistics KW - speech perception KW - bilingualism KW - critical period KW - phonetics KW - phonology KW - learnability KW - plasticity KW - phonemes KW - Catalan KW - Spanish KW - perception. TI - A limit on behavioral plasticity in speech perception. SP - 9 AV - public EP - 17 ER -