Electrophysiological evidence for benefits of imitation during the processing of spoken words embedded in sentential contexts

This event-related potential study examined the impact of imitating an unfamiliar accent on the processing of spoken words embedded in sentential contexts produced in that accent. The doze probability effect in two groups of southern French speakers after they had to either listen to or imitate sentences spoken by a Belgian French speaker was tested. Speakers who did not imitate the unfamiliar accent showed a doze probability effect on the phonological N200 wave, while those who did imitate the accent showed no effect on this component. Over a later time window, both groups showed a doze probability effect on the N400, which is associated with lexical and semantic processing. Taken together, these results give clear evidence for processing benefits from the imitation of speech patterns, particularly at an acoustic/phonological level of processing.