An electrophysiological response to different pitch contours in words

A spoken word with more than one syllable contains a specific stress patter n found to be processed during spoken word recognition. The present study i nvestigated the word's pitch contour as a single auditory parameter that ma rks stress. Event-related brain potentials (ERPs) were recorded while subje cts made decisions to artificially pitch manipulated words. ERPs revealed t hat pitch contours are discriminated already within the first syllable of a word. Furthermore, behavioral responses for words with incorrect pitch con tours were longer than for words with correct pitch contours. The results s uggest that the pitch contour is an auditory feature of the spoken word tha t a listener automatically processes during spoken word recognition. NeuroR eport 12:3189-3191 (C) 2001 Lippincott Williams & Wilkins.