Yuyu Zeng

• Zeng, Yuyu; Parrell, Benjamin & Niziolek, Caroline A. (2026). Transfer of sensorimotor adaptation reveals independent prosodic representation after segment–prosody coordination in speech production. Journal of Experimental Psychology. Learning, Memory and Cognition. ISSN 0278-7393. 52(9), p. 1638–1654. doi: 10.1037/xlm0001551. Full text in Research Archive Show summary

  In speech production, there is a long-standing debate regarding whether word-level prosodic structure has an independent representation separable from segments. Using a novel assay of sensorimotor adaptation, we observe straightforward evidence supporting an independent prosodic structure even after its coordination with the segments. Participants exposed to opposing formant perturbations applied to the two syllables of a single trained word (e.g., “bedhead” → “bidhad”) adapted separately to counteract the syllable-specific perturbations (i.e., producing “badhid”) and, critically, transferred the learned adaptation to untrained words based purely on shared prosodic structure (words with the same prosody but novel syllables, e.g., producing “breastfed” like “brastfid”). This evidence for an independent word-level prosodic representation, which has been hard to detect in previous studies, highlights the usefulness of sensorimotor adaptation as a tool for language production research.

• Karlin, Robin; Tesch, Emily; Tang, Ding-Lan; Zeng, Yuyu; Niziolek, Caroline A. & Parrell, Benjamin (2025). Vocal pitch enables differential motor learning of speech segments. Journal of Neurophysiology. ISSN 0022-3077. 133(5), p. 1382–1391. doi: 10.1152/jn.00605.2024. Full text in Research Archive Show summary

  Sensory feedback is crucial for accurate motor control. One process of movement correction is sensorimotor adaptation, or motor learning in response to perceived sensory errors. Recent studies demonstrate that people can adapt to opposing errors on a single movement given a context that differentiates when each error occurs. In speech production, linguistic structure (e.g., the same vowel in different words) can provide context for differential adaptation, but it is unclear whether this is restricted to the same effectors (i.e., lips, tongue, jaw) or also includes movements of other speech effectors (i.e., the larynx). Reaching studies show that contextual movements need not be produced with the same effector as the learning target, but so far, they have only tested left-right pairs. We present three simultaneous adaptation experiments in speech that examine whether laryngeal movements for pitch can provide context for oral articulator movements for vowels. In each experiment, the resonances that correlate with vowel articulator position were perturbed in three directions that were predictable given a pitch context. First, Mandarin speakers differentially adapted given pitch contexts that signal differences in word meaning, suggesting that lexical pitch provides context for vowels. Second, English speakers differentially adapted given arbitrary pitch matching contexts on the word “head,” suggesting that nonmeaningful pitch movements provide context for vowels. Third, English speakers did not differentially adapt when listening to contextual pitch, indicating that mere auditory input of pitch is insufficient. Together, these results suggest that sensorimotor context for learning can be provided by effectors other than the learning target.

• Zeng, Yuyu; Niziolek, Caroline A. & Parrell, Benjamin (2025). Simultaneous acquisition of multiple auditory–motor transformations reveals suprasyllabic motor planning in speech production. Journal of experimental psychology. General. ISSN 0096-3445. 154(6), p. 1681–1698. doi: 10.1037/xge0001744. Full text in Research Archive Show summary

  Motor planning forms a critical bridge between psycholinguistic and motoric models of word production. While syllables are often considered the core speech motor planning unit, growing evidence hints at suprasyllabic planning that may correspond to words, but firm experimental support is still lacking. We use differential adaptation to altered auditory feedback to provide novel, straightforward evidence for word-level planning. By introducing opposing perturbations to shared segmental content in near real time during speaking (e.g., raising the first vowel formant of “ped” in “pedigree” but lowering it in “pedicure,” so speakers hear something akin to “padigree” and “pidicure”), we assess whether participants can use the larger word context to separately oppose the two perturbations (i.e., by producing “pidigree” and “padicure”). Critically, limb control research shows that such differential learning is possible only when the shared movement forms part of distinct motor plans, allowing a straightforward assay of the scope of planning in multisyllabic words. We found differential adaptation in multisyllabic words but of smaller size relative to monosyllabic words. Our results strongly suggest that speech relies on an interactive motor planning process encompassing both syllables and words.

• Zeng, Yuyu; Wang, Chang & Zhang, Jie (2025). Cascading activation in spoken word production drives incomplete neutralization: An internet-based study of Mandarin 3rd tone sandhi. Journal of Phonetics. ISSN 0095-4470. 112, p. 101428–101428. doi: 10.1016/j.wocn.2025.101428. Full text in Research Archive Show summary

  Incomplete neutralization occurs when two underlying contrastive sounds are phonologically neutralized but remain phonetically distinct (e.g., “latter” and “ladder” become homophonous when the intervocalic stops are flapped in American English). Its proper understanding is foundational to phonology and speech production. Using the incomplete neutralization of the Mandarin 3rd tone sandhi as a test case (T3 + T3 → T2 + T3), we confirmed the presence of this incomplete neutralization with generalized additive modeling (GAMM) and growth curve analysis (GCA). Crucially, we found that the two tones (T2 and T3) became more neutralized when speakers were additionally required to perform a concurrent verbal working memory task while speaking; similar patterns were found when pseudowords were tested, although the overall effects were weaker. Since the concurrent verbal working memory task is expected to add processing load and decrease cascading activation in the spoken word production process, our results suggest that cascading activation, which permits upstream distinctions to surface in downstream acoustics, drives incomplete neutralization. Our study shows how embracing cascading activation can inform the long-standing debate between discrete vs. exemplar representations/operations surrounding incomplete neutralization. How cascading activation is compatible with the core assumptions of generative phonology is also discussed.

• Zeng, Yuyu; Leung, Keith K. W.; Jongman, Allard; Sereno, Joan A. & Wang, Yue (2023). Multi-modal cross-linguistic perception of Mandarin tones in clear speech. Frontiers in Human Neuroscience. 17. doi: 10.3389/fnhum.2023.1247811. Full text in Research Archive Show summary

  Clearly enunciated speech (relative to conversational, plain speech) involves articulatory and acoustic modifications that enhance auditory–visual (AV) segmental intelligibility. However, little research has explored clear-speech effects on the perception of suprasegmental properties such as lexical tone, particularly involving visual (facial) perception. Since tone production does not primarily rely on vocal tract configurations, tones may be less visually distinctive. Questions thus arise as to whether clear speech can enhance visual tone intelligibility, and if so, whether any intelligibility gain can be attributable to tone-specific category-enhancing (code-based) clear-speech cues or tone-general saliency-enhancing (signal-based) cues. The present study addresses these questions by examining the identification of clear and plain Mandarin tones with visual-only, auditory-only, and AV input modalities by native (Mandarin) and nonnative (English) perceivers. Results show that code-based visual and acoustic clear tone modifications, although limited, affect both native and nonnative intelligibility, with category-enhancing cues increasing intelligibility and category-blurring cues decreasing intelligibility. In contrast, signal-based cues, which are extensively available, do not benefit native intelligibility, although they contribute to nonnative intelligibility gain. These findings demonstrate that linguistically relevant visual tonal cues are existent. In clear speech, such tone category-enhancing cues are incorporated with saliency-enhancing cues across AV modalities for intelligibility improvements.

• Zeng, Yuyu; Fiorentino, Robert & Zhang, Jie (2022). Experimental investigation of Mandarin lexical tone production. Linguistic Proceedings Series. 13, p. 201–204. doi: 10.36505/exling-2022/13/0051/000593. Full text in Research Archive Show summary

  Using two picture-naming experiments, this study investigated the role of lexical tone in Mandarin spoken word production. In both experiments, the target words were monosyllabic, and naming latency served as the dependent variable. Experiment 1, which used pictures as distractors, examined whether lexical tone is relevant during lexical selection. Trials containing exact homophone distractors (e.g. zhū vs. zhū) were named significantly more slowly than trials containing simple homophone distractors (e.g. zhū vs. zhú), suggesting that lexical tone plays a mediating role in lexical selection. Experiment 2, which employed pseudo-word transcriptions as distractors, examined the relative timing of lexical tone encoding. The findings indicated that: (1) lexical tone encoding occurs no later than syllable encoding and precedes the encoding of within-syllable segments; and (2) lexical tone encoding requires less processing time than syllable encoding.

• Zhang, Jie; Zhang, Caicai; Politzer-Ahles, Stephen; Pan, Ziyi; Huang, Xunan & Wang, Chang [Show all 8 contributors for this article] (2022). The neural encoding of productive phonological alternation in speech production: Evidence from Mandarin Tone 3 sandhi. Journal of Neurolinguistics. ISSN 0911-6044. 62. doi: 10.1016/j.jneuroling.2022.101060. Full text in Research Archive Show summary

  The understanding of alternation is a key goal in phonological research. But little is known about how phonological alternations are implemented in speech production. The current study tested the hypothesis that the production of words that undergo a highly productive alternation, Mandarin Tone 3 sandhi, is supported by a computation mechanism, which predicts that this alternation is subserved by neural activity in a time-window associated with post-lexical phonological and phonetic encoding regardless of word frequency. ERPs were recorded while participants sub-vocally produced high- and low-frequency disyllabic words that do or do not require sandhi. Sandhi words elicited more positive ERPs than non-sandhi words over left anterior channels around 336–520 ms after participants saw the cue instructing them to initiate sub-vocal production, but this effect was not significantly modulated by word frequency. These findings are consistent with predictions of the computation mechanism and have implications for current psycholinguistic models of speech production.

• Chen, Xiaocong; Zhang, Caicai; Chen, Yiya; Politzer-Ahles, Stephen; Zeng, Yuyu & Zhang, Jie (2022). Encoding category-level and context-specific phonological information at different stages: An EEG study of Mandarin third-tone sandhi word production. Neuropsychologia. ISSN 0028-3932. 175, p. 108367–108367. doi: 10.1016/j.neuropsychologia.2022.108367. Full text in Research Archive Show summary

  Pronunciation of words or morphemes may vary systematically in different phonological contexts, but it remains unclear how different levels of phonological information are encoded in speech production. In this study, we investigated the online planning process of Mandarin Tone 3 (T3) sandhi, a case of phonological alternation whereby a low-dipping tone (T3) changes to a Tone 2 (T2)-like rising tone when followed by another T3. To examine the time course of the encoding of the abstract category-level (underlying form) and context-specific phonological form (surface form) of T3, we conducted an electroencephalographic (EEG) study with a phonologically-primed picture naming task and examined the event-related potentials (ERPs) time-locked to the stimulus onset as well as speech response onset. The behavioral results showed that targets primed by T3 or T2 primes yielded shorter naming latencies than those primed by control primes. Importantly, the EEG data revealed that T3 primes elicited larger positive amplitude over broad frontocentral regions roughly in the 320–550 ms time window of stimulus-locked ERP and −500 to −400 ms time window of response-locked ERP, whereas T2 primes elicited larger negative amplitude over left frontocentral regions roughly in the −240 to −100 ms time window of response-locked ERP. These results indicate that the underlying and the surface form are encoded at different processing stages. The former presumably occurs in the earlier phonological encoding stage, while the latter probably occurs in the later phonetic encoding or motor preparation stage. The current study offers important implications for understanding the processing of phonological alternations and tonal encoding in Chinese word production.

• Zeng, Yuyu; Fiorentino, Robert & Zhang, Jie (2021). Electrophysiological signatures of perceiving alternated tone in Mandarin Chinese: Mismatch negativity to underlying tone conflict. Frontiers in Psychology. 12, p. 735593–735593. doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2021.735593. Full text in Research Archive Show summary

  Although phonological alternation is prevalent in languages, the process of perceiving phonologically alternated sounds is poorly understood, especially at the neurolinguistic level. We examined the process of perceiving Mandarin 3rd tone sandhi (T3 + T3 → T2 + T3) with a mismatch negativity (MMN) experiment. Our design has two independent variables (whether the deviant undergoes tone sandhi; whether the standard and the deviant have matched underlying tone). These two independent variables modulated ERP responses in both the first and the second syllables. Notably, despite the apparent segmental conflict between the standard and the deviant in all conditions, MMN is only observed when neither the standard nor the deviant undergoes tone sandhi, suggesting that discovering the underlying representation of an alternated sound could interfere with the generation of MMN. A tentative model with three hypothesized underlying processing mechanisms is proposed to explain the observed latency and amplitude differences across conditions. The results are also discussed in light of the potential electrophysiological signatures involved in the process of perceiving alternated sounds.

• Tremblay, Annie; Broersma, Mirjam; Zeng, Yuyu; Kim, Hyoju; Lee, Jinmyung & Shin, Seulgi (2021). Dutch listeners' perception of English lexical stress: A cue-weighting approach. Journal of the Acoustical Society of America. ISSN 0001-4966. 149(6), p. 3703–3714. doi: 10.1121/10.0005086. Full text in Research Archive Show summary

  We investigate whether acoustic cue weightings are transferred from the native language to the second language [research question 1 (RQ1)], how cue weightings change with increasing second-language proficiency (RQ2), and whether individual cues are used independently or together in the second language (RQ3). Vowel reduction is a strong cue to lexical stress in English but not Dutch. Native English listeners and Dutch second-language learners of English completed a cue-weighting stress perception experiment. Participants heard sentence-final pitch-accented auditory stimuli and identified them as DEsert (initial stress) or deSSERT (final stress). The stimuli were manipulated in seven steps from initial to final stress, manipulating two dimensions at a time: vowel quality and pitch, vowel quality and duration, and pitch and duration (other dimensions neutralized). Dutch listeners relied less on vowel quality and more on pitch than English listeners, with Dutch listeners' sensitivity to vowel quality increasing with English proficiency but their sensitivity to pitch not varying with proficiency; Dutch listeners evidenced similar or weaker reliance on duration than did English listeners, and their sensitivity to duration increased with proficiency; and Dutch listeners' use of pitch and duration were positively related. These results provide general support for a cue-based transfer approach to the perception of lexical stress.

• Redmon, Charles; Zeng, Yuyu; Kidwai, Juhi; Yang, Xiao; Wilson, Delaney & Fiorentino, Robert (2019). Detecting integration of top-down information using the mismatch negativity: Preliminary evidence from phoneme restoration | Kansas Working Papers in Linguistics. Kansas Working Papers in Linguistics. 40. doi: 10.17161/1808.30414. Full text in Research Archive Show summary

  The current study utilizes mismatch negativity in the phenomenon of phoneme restoration to investigate the critical debate regarding the integration of top down (lexical) and bottom up (acoustic) processing in spoken word recognition. Phoneme restoration, which occurs when phonemes missing from a speech signal are restored by the brain and may appear to be heard, was examined in a multi-standard oddball paradigm. Participants heard stimuli while watching a quiet animated film. Stimuli were divided into word and non- word conditions, with noise added to some stimuli to make them ambiguous. The many-to-one ratio of standards to deviants for generation of mismatch negativity (MMN) was achieved only if the brain could recover the missing phoneme in the ambiguous, noise-spliced stimuli. Both word and nonword conditions were compared to verify that an elicited MMN among words was contingent on involvement of the lexicon in the grouping of standards, and not some more general cognitive grouping procedure. Results from seven participants show preliminary support for the predicted effect: i.e., mismatch negativity for words but not for nonwords. This effect is contingent on phoneme restoration, and thus is consistent with recent literature suggesting that MMN is sensitive to higher information structures such as the mental lexicon.

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