Speed Accommodation in Context: Context Modulation of the Effect of Speech Rate on Response Speed

Previous research has shown that analog mapping of information unto acoustic properties of speech can affect listeners’ interpretation of described objects and events. In this paper, we examine whether the effect of analog acoustic variation on listeners is governed by intrinsic acoustic properties of the stimulus, through direct priming of listeners’ concepts or behavior. For example, fast speech may always prime the concept of speed or a faster response. Alternatively, the effect of analog acoustic variation may be mediated by a context-dependent interpretation of the acoustic properties. For example, the effect of speech rate may depend on how listeners construe the meaning of a fast or a slow speech rate in the immediate linguistic context. Our results suggest that speech rate can have an effect on listeners’ response speed, but only in contexts that supported the interpretation of speech rate as conveying response speed relevant information.