ECHOES OF ECHOES - AN EPISODIC THEORY OF LEXICAL ACCESS

In this article the author proposes an episodic theory of spoken word representation, perception, and production. By most theories, idiosync ratic aspects of speech (voice details, ambient noise, etc.) are consi dered noise and are filtered in perception. However, episodic theories suggest that perceptual details are stored in memory and are integral to later perception. In this research the author tested an episodic m odel (MINERVA 2; D. L. Hintzman, 1986) against speech production data from a word-shadowing task. The model predicted the shadowing-response -lime patterns, and it correctly predicted a tendency for shadowers to spontaneously imitate the acoustic patterns of words and nonwords. It also correctly predicted imitation strength as a function of ''abstra ct'' stimulus properties, such as word frequency. Taken together, the data and theory suggest that detailed episodes constitute the basic su bstrate of the mental lexicon.