A temporally dynamic context effect that disrupts voice onset time discrimination of rapidly successive stimuli

Across three experiments, voice onset time discrimination along a /ba/-/pa/ continuum was found to be influenced by the order of presentation of rapidly successive stimuli. Specifically, discrimination was disrupted when a relatively unambiguous /pa/ syllable was presented before, rather than after, a more ambiguous /pa/ or /ba/ syllable. In Experiments 1 and 2, for between-category discrimination, this order effect was significant at interstimulus intervals (ISIs) below 250 msec, but not at 250 or 1,000 msec. In Experiments 2 and 3, the order effect was also significant for within-category discrimination at ISIs below 250 msec. In addition, in Experiment 3 this order effect was not diminished by provision of performance feedback across eight testing sessions. These findings reveal a particular vulnerability of phonological processing in response to rapidly successive stimuli and may have implications for mathematical and neural models of speech processing of normal and impaired populations.