HealthyIACTNCT04509024
Incidental Auditory Category Training for Language Learning
A study testing Incidental training, Explicit training and Classroom training in people with Healthy and Language, run by Carnegie Mellon University at 1 site in United States.
Trial summary
The overarching goal of the proposed research is to understand how human listeners learn speech categories. The project takes a prospective approach with adult second-language learners, blending empirical, methodological and theoretical advances from laboratory studies with explicit classroom instruction. Read more about this study
- Who is it for?
- Ages 18 years and olderHealthy volunteers can take part
- What is being tested?
- Incidental training, Explicit training and Classroom training
- Type of treatment
- Lifestyle or therapy programme
- Could I receive a placebo?
- No, everyone receives an active treatment
- How many people
- 106 participants
- Where
- 1 siteUnited States
- Study dates
- 1 Sep 2019to 10 Jan 2023
- Phase
- Interventional
- Are there results?
- Yes, posted in the registrySummary in the doctors' view
Key requirements
Who can take part, as listed by the sponsor. Only the study team can confirm whether you are eligible, so take this list to your doctor.
- Ages 18 years and older
- All sexes
- Healthy volunteers accepted
- Adult, Older adult
Who may be able to join
- 18 or older, normal hearing
- Native/non-native Chinese speakers
Who cannot join
- Younger than 18, loss of hearing
Trial locations and contacts
1 site in 1 country.
United States1 site
Carnegie Mellon University
Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, 15213
About this study
Official title: Examining the Impact of Non-linguistic Incidental Auditory Category Training on Adult Language Acquisition
The overarching goal of the proposed research is to understand how human listeners learn speech categories. The project takes a prospective approach with adult second-language learners, blending empirical, methodological and theoretical advances from laboratory studies with explicit classroom instruction. The central hypothesis is that incidentally-acquired nonlinguistic perceptual building block categories may support speech perception and production in a second language. The project will advance important theoretical debates about the cross-talk between general auditory representations and speech categories and will provide a novel approach to nudging adult learners off learning plateau typically encountered in classroom instruction.
Read the detailed description
Robust speech communication requires that listeners learn linguistically-relevant representations for stable language regularities, such as the speech sounds (phonemes) that convey meaning. In an increasingly multilingual society, as many as twenty percent of Americans accomplish this across multiple languages. Yet, second language acquisition is especially challenging among adult language learners, for whom learning typically involves explicit classroom instruction. Troublingly, research documents that instruction routinely results in a 'learning plateau' whereby language abilities stagnate or even atrophy despite continued instruction. There is a need to establish effective new approaches to nudge adult language learners off this plateau. This project integrates theoretical and methodological developments in auditory category learning with approaches to classroom-based L2 instruction. Specifically, incidental category learning (in which learners' attention is directed away from to-be-learned categories by an engaging videogame) taps into category learning systems distinct from those engaged in more explicit learning. Moreover, incidental learning of nonspeech sound categories leads to activation of putatively speech-selective cortex associated with speech categorization, suggesting potential representational cross-talk. This guides the central hypothesis of the project: incidental learning of nonspeech perceptual building block categories may provide a 'back door' through which to influence adult L2 learners' speech acquisition and to move them off the classroom learning plateau. An intensive 8-week incidental training study will test the hypothesis (Aim 1). Comparison of incidental nonspeech training with explicit L2 speech training will assess whether this cognitive 'back door' may be more effective in promoting L2 speech perception and production than explicit training with L2 speech and will determine the extent to which each interacts with classroom instruction in the L2 (Aim 2). The results will reveal whether nonspeech, auditory categories sharing common perceptual dimensions with second language categories scaffold L2 acquisition, the degree to which explicit instruction may support or interfere with new auditory categories, whether incidental learning is retained after training, and whether learning gains transfer to support other language-learning tasks. In blending empirical, methodological, and theoretical advances from laboratory studies with explicit classroom learning it will be possible to determine the interplay between incidentally-acquired nonlinguistic perceptual building block categories and an emerging L2. This will advance important theoretical debates about the cross-talk between general auditory representations and speech categories and will provide a novel approach to L2 pedagogy.
- Being tested
- Incidental training, Explicit training, Classroom training, Classroom and incidental training, Classroom and explicit training
- Keywords
- Learning, Speech, Cognition
- Medical subject headings
- Language, Speech
What participants receive
What participants receive. In a randomised study each person is assigned to one group by chance.
Incidental trainingBehavioural
Training involving non-speech sounds embedded in a video-game.
Explicit trainingBehavioural
Training involving explicit sound and category information
Classroom trainingBehavioural
Structured adult classroom language training.
Classroom and incidental trainingBehavioural
Both classroom and incidental training.
Classroom and explicit trainingBehavioural
Both classroom and explicit training.
| Study group | Role | What they receive |
|---|---|---|
| Incidental training | Experimental | Participants undergo novel non-linguistic incidental category learning training. Receives: Behavioral: Incidental training |
| Explicit training | Experimental | Participants undergo traditional explicit language learning. Receives: Behavioral: Explicit training |
| No training | No intervention | Participants do not undergo any training. |
| Classroom training | Experimental | Participants take part in structured classroom learning. Receives: Behavioral: Classroom training |
| Classroom and incidental training | Experimental | Participants take part in structured classroom learning and incidental learning. Receives: Behavioral: Classroom and incidental training |
| Classroom and explicit training | Experimental | Participants take part in structured classroom learning and explicit learning. Receives: Behavioral: Classroom and explicit training |
What is being measured
The primary outcome is the main question the study is designed to answer.
Change in Sensitivity (D-prime) to Novel Speech Sounds After 2 Months of Training
Each participant's 96 auditory discrimination data points at Pre-test and Post-test, respectively, were reduced to one sensitivity score: d-prime (d': hits minus false alarms). This transformation takes into account response bias and approaches a normal distribution. A higher score represents greater sensitivity. The difference in scores from pre- to post-test represents the change.
Measured: Pre-test (baseline) and immediately after 2 months of training.
Change in Auditory Category Learning Accuracy After 2 Months of Training
Each participant's 96 auditory categorization data points at Pre-test and Post-test, respectively, were turned into a mean of the correct answers. The difference between the two accuracy scores represents the mean change in accuracy.
Measured: Pre-test (baseline) and immediately after 2 months of training.
Novel Auditory Word Learning Accuracy After 2 Months of Training
At post-test, participants did a three day novel word learning task. Their 48 word identification data points on the first and third days, respectively, were turned into a mean correct score. The difference in scores from Day 1 to Day 3 represents the change in mean novel word learning accuracy.
Measured: Immediately after 2 months of training.
Secondary outcomes (1)
Word Recognition Accuracy in Unrelated Language 3 Months After Training
Three months after training, participants were scheduled to learn words in an unrelated language. Their mean accuracy would be calculated.
Measured: 3 months post-intervention
Timeline
From the start of the study to its completion; the mark is today. Estimated dates are the sponsor’s plan.
- First posted11 Aug 2020
- Study start1 Sep 2019
- Primary completion1 Nov 2022
- Study completion10 Jan 2023
Why it stopped: In response to the COVID-19 pandemic, the long-term follow-up of participants was dropped from the study protocol as we lacked the time and resources to do so. Methods like eye-tracking were also dropped.
Resources
- Official record on ClinicalTrials.govThe registry entry this page is built from, with its full change history.
- Posted resultsParticipant flow, outcome measures and adverse events reported by the sponsor.
- Other trials for HealthyStudies of the same condition, open and under way.
- What the trial phases meanHow a treatment moves from first tests in people to approval.
More details
For doctors and researchers: how the study is designed, who runs it, and its registry IDs.
Study design
- Study type
- Interventional
- Phase
- Phase N/A
- Primary purpose
- Basic science
- Allocation
- Non-randomised
- Intervention model
- Single group
- Masking
- None (open label)
- Enrolment
- 106 participants (actual)
Sponsor and investigators
- Lead sponsor
- Carnegie Mellon University
- Sponsor type
- University, hospital or other
- Responsible party
- Principal investigator, Seth Wiener, Carnegie Mellon University
- Investigators
- Seth Wiener, PhD, Principal investigator, Carnegie Mellon University
IDs, dates and publications
- ClinicalTrials.gov ID
- NCT04509024
- Sponsor's protocol ID
- 1R03HD099382-01
- Acronym
- IACT
- Status last verified
- Jul 2024
- First submitted
- 6 Aug 2020
- Last updated
- 24 Jul 2024
- Results posted
- Yes, on ClinicalTrials.gov
- Data monitoring committee
- No
- FDA-regulated drug
- No
- FDA-regulated device
- No
- Individual data sharing
- Yes: Participants who have agreed to share their behavioral responses and speech recordings will have their data anonymized and shared via a free, open platform like OpenScience after completion of the study.
Study at a glance
From the registry record, last updated by the sponsor on 24 Jul 2024. Recruitment status is as the sponsor reported it: confirm with the study team.
- Official title
- Examining the Impact of Non-linguistic Incidental Auditory Category Training on Adult Language Acquisition
- ClinicalTrials.gov ID
- NCT04509024
- Acronym / sponsor ID
- IACT / 1R03HD099382-01
- Keywords
- Learning, Speech, Cognition
- Study type
- Interventional
- Recruitment status
- TerminatedReason stopped: In response to the COVID-19 pandemic, the long-term follow-up of participants was dropped from the study protocol as we lacked the time and resources to do so. Methods like eye-tracking were also dropped.
- Enrolment
- 106 participants (actual)
- Lead sponsor
- Carnegie Mellon UniversityUniversity, hospital or other
- Study start
- 1 Sep 2019 (actual)
- Primary completion
- 1 Nov 2022 (actual)
- Study completion
- 10 Jan 2023 (actual)
- First posted
- 11 Aug 2020 (actual)
- Results
- Posted 24 Jul 2024
Clinical summary
The research question as the sponsor registered it. This describes what the study plans to test, not what it found.
The overarching goal of the proposed research is to understand how human listeners learn speech categories. The project takes a prospective approach with adult second-language learners, blending empirical, methodological and theoretical advances from laboratory studies with explicit classroom instruction. The central hypothesis is that incidentally-acquired nonlinguistic perceptual building block categories may support speech perception and production in a second language. The project will advance important theoretical debates about the cross-talk between general auditory representations and speech categories and will provide a novel approach to nudging adult learners off learning plateau typically encountered in classroom instruction.
Detailed description
Robust speech communication requires that listeners learn linguistically-relevant representations for stable language regularities, such as the speech sounds (phonemes) that convey meaning. In an increasingly multilingual society, as many as twenty percent of Americans accomplish this across multiple languages. Yet, second language acquisition is especially challenging among adult language learners, for whom learning typically involves explicit classroom instruction. Troublingly, research documents that instruction routinely results in a 'learning plateau' whereby language abilities stagnate or even atrophy despite continued instruction. There is a need to establish effective new approaches to nudge adult language learners off this plateau. This project integrates theoretical and methodological developments in auditory category learning with approaches to classroom-based L2 instruction. Specifically, incidental category learning (in which learners' attention is directed away from to-be-learned categories by an engaging videogame) taps into category learning systems distinct from those engaged in more explicit learning. Moreover, incidental learning of nonspeech sound categories leads to activation of putatively speech-selective cortex associated with speech categorization, suggesting potential representational cross-talk. This guides the central hypothesis of the project: incidental learning of nonspeech perceptual building block categories may provide a 'back door' through which to influence adult L2 learners' speech acquisition and to move them off the classroom learning plateau. An intensive 8-week incidental training study will test the hypothesis (Aim 1). Comparison of incidental nonspeech training with explicit L2 speech training will assess whether this cognitive 'back door' may be more effective in promoting L2 speech perception and production than explicit training with L2 speech and will determine the extent to which each interacts with classroom instruction in the L2 (Aim 2). The results will reveal whether nonspeech, auditory categories sharing common perceptual dimensions with second language categories scaffold L2 acquisition, the degree to which explicit instruction may support or interfere with new auditory categories, whether incidental learning is retained after training, and whether learning gains transfer to support other language-learning tasks. In blending empirical, methodological, and theoretical advances from laboratory studies with explicit classroom learning it will be possible to determine the interplay between incidentally-acquired nonlinguistic perceptual building block categories and an emerging L2. This will advance important theoretical debates about the cross-talk between general auditory representations and speech categories and will provide a novel approach to L2 pedagogy.
Study design
- Primary purpose
- Basic science
- Allocation
- Non-randomised
- Intervention model
- Single group
- Masking
- None (open label)
- Number of arms
- 6
| Arm | Type | Receives |
|---|---|---|
| Incidental training | Experimental | Behavioral: Incidental trainingParticipants undergo novel non-linguistic incidental category learning training. |
| Explicit training | Experimental | Behavioral: Explicit trainingParticipants undergo traditional explicit language learning. |
| No training | No intervention | –Participants do not undergo any training. |
| Classroom training | Experimental | Behavioral: Classroom trainingParticipants take part in structured classroom learning. |
| Classroom and incidental training | Experimental | Behavioral: Classroom and incidental trainingParticipants take part in structured classroom learning and incidental learning. |
| Classroom and explicit training | Experimental | Behavioral: Classroom and explicit trainingParticipants take part in structured classroom learning and explicit learning. |
Who may qualify
- Ages
- 18 years and older
- Sex
- All
- Healthy volunteers
- Accepted
- Age groups
- Adult, Older adult
Key inclusion criteria (2 listed)
- 18 or older, normal hearing
- Native/non-native Chinese speakers
Key exclusion criteria (1 listed)
- Younger than 18, loss of hearing
Eligibility is decided by the study team after screening; this overview does not establish that a patient qualifies. Full inclusion and exclusion criteria.
Interventions
| Intervention | Type | Arms |
|---|---|---|
| Incidental trainingTraining involving non-speech sounds embedded in a video-game. | Behavioural | Incidental training |
| Explicit trainingTraining involving explicit sound and category information | Behavioural | Explicit training |
| Classroom trainingStructured adult classroom language training. | Behavioural | Classroom training |
| Classroom and incidental trainingBoth classroom and incidental training. | Behavioural | Classroom and incidental training |
| Classroom and explicit trainingBoth classroom and explicit training. | Behavioural | Classroom and explicit training |
Primary outcome
Change in Sensitivity (D-prime) to Novel Speech Sounds After 2 Months of Training
Time frame: Pre-test (baseline) and immediately after 2 months of training.
Each participant's 96 auditory discrimination data points at Pre-test and Post-test, respectively, were reduced to one sensitivity score: d-prime (d': hits minus false alarms). This transformation takes into account response bias and approaches a normal distribution. A higher score represents greater sensitivity. The difference in scores from pre- to post-test represents the change.
Change in Auditory Category Learning Accuracy After 2 Months of Training
Time frame: Pre-test (baseline) and immediately after 2 months of training.
Each participant's 96 auditory categorization data points at Pre-test and Post-test, respectively, were turned into a mean of the correct answers. The difference between the two accuracy scores represents the mean change in accuracy.
Novel Auditory Word Learning Accuracy After 2 Months of Training
Time frame: Immediately after 2 months of training.
At post-test, participants did a three day novel word learning task. Their 48 word identification data points on the first and third days, respectively, were turned into a mean correct score. The difference in scores from Day 1 to Day 3 represents the change in mean novel word learning accuracy.
1 secondary outcome
Word Recognition Accuracy in Unrelated Language 3 Months After Training
Time frame: 3 months post-intervention
Results and safety
Loading the posted results from ClinicalTrials.gov…
Research links
- Official record on ClinicalTrials.govLast updated by the sponsor 24 Jul 2024.
- Posted resultsParticipant flow, baseline, all outcome measures and adverse events.
- Individual participant dataSharing planned: Yes. Participants who have agreed to share their behavioral responses and speech recordings will have their data anonymized and shared via a free, open platform like OpenScience after completion of the study.
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Referral and contact
AzTrials does not enrol participants or take referrals. Contact the study team or a site listed below; they decide who can take part. This study is not recruiting at the moment.
Seth Wiener, PhD principal investigator
Carnegie Mellon University
1 site in 1 country: see every site and its status.
Questions about this trial
What is this clinical trial studying?
A study testing Incidental training, Explicit training and Classroom training in people with Healthy and Language, run by Carnegie Mellon University at 1 site in United States.
The full registered description is in the About this study section and the official record.
Who may be eligible to take part?
The sponsor lists 2 inclusion and 1 exclusion criteria. Eligibility is decided by the study team after screening, so read the full criteria and contact a listed site.
Is this clinical trial currently recruiting?
The record says: stopped early, as of the sponsor's last update on 24 Jul 2024. Status can change between updates, so confirm with the study contact before making plans.
Where is the study taking place?
The record lists 1 site in United States. Whether a site is taking part right now should be confirmed with that site. See every site.
What are the possible benefits and risks?
They depend on the study and the treatment, and no study can promise a benefit. The study team explains the known risks during informed consent, before anyone joins; the record itself does not list them.
Are results available for this study?
Yes. Results are posted in the registry (first posted 24 Jul 2024). A summary is in the For doctors view, and the full results are on ClinicalTrials.gov.
How can a doctor refer a patient or contact the research team?
The record lists no contact. The official record names the sponsor, who can be asked directly. AzTrials does not enrol participants or take referrals.
What does the primary outcome measure?
Change in Sensitivity (D-prime) to Novel Speech Sounds After 2 Months of Training (time frame: Pre-test (baseline) and immediately after 2 months of training.). The study lists 3 primary outcomes in all. It is what the study was designed to measure, not a finding.
Where can I read the original study information?
Does a listing mean the treatment is approved or proven to work?
No. A listing means the study is registered. It does not show that the treatment is safe, works, or is approved by a regulator.
How often is this information updated?
AzTrials copies changed records from ClinicalTrials.gov every night and reloads the whole registry every week. The sponsor last updated this record on 24 Jul 2024.