פיזיולוגיה ותפיסה בקרב דו-לשוניות: האם הקורלציה בין השניים משתנה כתלות בגירוי השמיעתי?

While perceptual measures show a weakened trend of speech in noise perception among bilinguals compared to monolinguals, the literature points out good consequences of bilingualism on brain structure and function. The current study aimed to understand the association between perceptual and physiological outcomes in bilingual listeners. For this purpose, Arabic-Hebrew bilinguals and native Hebrew speakers were tested in their ability to perceive words and sentences presented in quiet and noise and in their ability to physiologically process speech signals under the same acoustic conditions.The results showed perceptual and physiological group differences in the noise condition. Perceptually, bilinguals achieved lower accuracy compared to their native Hebrew counterparts, even when tested in their first language.However, physiologically, earlier responses were found among bilinguals. In addition, a positive physiological-perceptual correlation was found among bilinguals in the noise condition, and this relationship changed depending on the complexity of the task and bilinguals’ tested language. The perceptual accuracy of bilinguals in their first language was related to the physiological processing only in the sentence task, and the perceptual accuracy in bilinguals’ second language was related to the physiological processing in the word task. The findings are of great importance for understanding the mechanisms that underlie the behavior of bilinguals in challenging listening conditions. From the current study, it seems that bilingualism affects perceiving speech, changes the physiological processing, and that physiology is related to perception and can explain some of the variation observed in bilinguals’ performance in daily life.