Gestural Dimension of the Perceptuomotor Compatibility Effect in the Speech Domain

Abstract

This behavioral study shows for the first time that the auditory perception of vowels influences silent labial responses. During a perceptual decision task, participants were instructed to choose and execute a silent labial response (lip protrusion versus chin lowering) as quickly as possible depending on the vowel they had perceived auditorily. The main result showed that gestural compatibility between the silent labial response and the articulation of the perceived vowel led to better performance (in terms of response times and errors) than an incompatibility between them. By including a somatic compatibility effect in a more dynamic gestural compatibility effect, this new result suggests that the role of motor activity during speech auditory perception lies in mentally simulating an articulation of the perceived phoneme.