Current theories of speech perception emphasize the demonstrated role of direct experience in voice processing where greater experience with a voice or voice type results in various processing advantages. This talk describes early results from a project examining the role of stereotypes, or more abstracted representations not necessarily based in direct experience, in the processing of voices. Specifically, we will detail the role various voice types play in phonetic accommodation, the phenomenon where a talker adapts properties of another talker’s voice.

Grant McGuire is an Assistant Professor of Linguistics at UC Santa Cruz and recipient of an IHR Faculty Fellowship (2012-13). His primary research interest is in speech perception. He received his PhD in Linguistics from Ohio State University (Phonetic Category Learning, 2007) and has published research articles on perceptual learning in adults and infants, audio-visual speech perception, and gender effects on speech perception.