University Presentation Showcase: Undergraduate Poster Gallery
Preview
Creation Date
2020
Major
Psychology
Department
Psychology
Degree
Undergraduate
Mentor
Sara Incera
Mentor Department
Psychology
Abstract
In today’s world there are more non-native than native English speakers, making it current and important to understand how the way a person looks influences listener’s perception of the speaker and their accent. A sample of 100 Eastern Kentucky University students were presented with either a video or audio clip. Participants rated the accentedness of each speaker on a response bar. The video clips included speakers who looked “native” or “foreign” and that sounded “native” or “foreign.” The results of the study show that all foreign-sounding participants were rated as “foreign” independently of their looks. However, when participants viewed a video r of a native-sounding speaker that looked foreign, participants rated them as more accented (in the audio-only condition these speakers were rated “native”). Participants rated the same audio-files of the native speakers that looked foreign as more accented in the video than the audio-only condition. Thus, listeners integrate visual information of the speaker’s face when processing accents. Native speakers that look foreign can be mistakenly perceived as having a foreign accent.
