Does criticism in a foreign accent hurt less?

Evaluative statements are routine in interpersonal communication but may evoke different responses depending on the speaker’s identity. Here, thirty participants listened to compliments and criticisms spoken in native or foreign accents and rated the speaker's friendliness as their electroencephalogram was recorded. Event-related potentials (ERPs) were examined for (1) vocal speech cues time-locked to statement onset and (2) emotive semantic attributes at the sentence-final word. Criticisms from native speakers were rated as less friendly than from foreign speakers, whereas compliments did not differ. ERPs revealed listeners rapidly used acoustic information to differentiate speaker identity and evaluative attitude (N100, P200), then selectively monitored vocal attitude of <i>native</i> speakers in the Late Positive Potential (LPP) time window. When the evaluative word was heard, native accents contextually modulated early semantic processing (N400). Words of criticism increased the LPP irrespective of accent. Our data showcase unique neurocognitive and behavioural effects of speaker accent on communication.

评价性陈述在人际沟通中属于常规表达，但其引发的反应会因说话者身份的差异而有所不同。本实验中，30名被试聆听了以母语口音或外语口音说出的赞美与批评话语，并在脑电图（electroencephalogram, EEG）记录过程中对说话者的友好程度进行评分。本研究对事件相关电位（Event-related potentials, ERPs）开展了两项分析：一是与语句起始时刻锁时的语音线索，二是句末词汇所承载的情绪语义属性。评分结果显示，母语口音说话者的批评话语被判定为比外语口音说话者的批评更不友好，而赞美话语则未出现此类差异。ERP结果表明，听者会快速利用声学信息区分说话者身份与评价态度（N100、P200），并在晚正电位（Late Positive Potential, LPP）时窗内选择性地监测母语口音说话者的语音态度。当被试聆听评价性词汇时，母语口音会对早期语义加工（N400）产生语境调控作用。无论口音类型如何，批评类词汇均会提升LPP波幅。本研究数据揭示了说话者口音对人际沟通产生的独特神经认知与行为效应。