TRAINING LISTENERS TO PERCEIVE NOVEL PHONETIC CATEGORIES - HOW DO WE KNOW WHAT IS LEARNED

Logan et al. [J. Acoust. Soc. Am. 89, 874-886 (1991)] carried out a pe rceptual learning experiment in which Japanese listeners were trained to identify English words containing /r/ and Al. Pruitt V. Acoust. Soc . Am. 94, 1146-1147 (1993)] has criticized several aspects of the proc edures and conclusions. First, he argues that the lack of appropriate control groups make interpretation of the results problematic. Second, he asserts that the generalization test was methodologically flawed. Although Pruitt raises some important issues that are worth pursuing i n future research, it is argued that the methodology that was employed and the conclusions that were drawn were valid.