Relationship between tone perception and cognitive functions of attention and working memory among normal native speakers of Cantonese

Abstract

This study investigated the relationship between tone perception and cognitive capabilities of attention and working memory in the auditory and visual domains among normal speakers of Cantonese. Fifteen near-mergers (i.e. poor perception of T4/T6 but good production of all lexical tones in Cantonese), and 20 controls (i.e. good perception and production of tones) participated in this study. The Test of Everyday Attention (TEA), the Attention Network Test (ANT), the test of attentional shifting, the digit span backward test and WAIS-IV visual working memory subtests were implemented. Results showed that Near-mergers performed significantly poorer than Controls in divided attention of both auditory and visual domains. Furthermore, the discrimination latency was found to relate to auditory attention and visual working memory. This suggested a modality independent relationship between tone perception and cognitive abilities. It is hypothesized that attention and working memory play a role in modulating the processing speed of tone perception.