Refer to the Figure

question 27

Essay

Refer to the figure.
Figure. Average looking time was measured while broadcast phonemes either alternated (between Hindi /d_/ and /dj/) or stayed the same (repeating /d_/, or repeating /dj/). Observations were taken when infants sucked on either a U-shaped teether that allowed free tongue movement (left bar) or a flat teether that immobilized subjects' tongues (right bar). Scores greater than zero indicate a preference for the alternating phonemes. Error bars denote Standard Error of the Mean. The asterisk marks a significant difference from zero.
Infants spend more time looking at a loudspeaker, on average, if they detect an acoustic change within a stream of repeating sounds that it broadcasts. Based on the figure from Bruderer et al.'s 2015 study of speech perception by 6-month-old English-speaking infants (above), does the articulatory system of infants influence whether the babies hear phoneme distinctions between non-English consonants? Explain briefly.

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Definitions:

Consumer Surplus

The discrepancy between the price consumers are inclined to pay for a product or service and the actual price paid.

Market Quantity

The total amount of goods or services available for purchase within a specific market.

Consumer Surplus

The divergence in total potential expenditure consumers are ready to make on a good or service against actual expenses incurred.

Welfare Economics

A branch of economics that focuses on the optimal allocation of resources and goods and aims to evaluate social welfare.