Holmes, E., & Johnsrude, I. S. (2023). Intelligibility Benefit for Familiar Voices Is Not Accompanied by Better Discrimination of Fundamental Frequency or Vocal Tract Length. Hearing Research, 429, Article 108704.
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.heares.2023.108704

has been cited by the following article:

• TITLE: Associative Cognitive Function of Language Found in the Persistence of Motherese

  AUTHORS: Branton B. Baird, John Bryan, Patricia D’Urso, Carol Pernsteiner

  KEYWORDS: Mere Exposure, Motherese, Word Perception, Reaction Time

  JOURNAL NAME: Psychology, Vol.16 No.10, October 11, 2025

  ABSTRACT: This study investigates the persistence of maternal vocative expression (VE) effects on adult auditory processing. Using a quasi-experimental, one-way repeated measures ANOVA, the research examines reaction time (RT) differences among adult women responding to their names spoken by their mothers, unfamiliar women, and unfamiliar men. Findings reveal a statistically significant reaction time advantage for maternal voices, supporting Usage-Based Theory (UBT) over the Nativist perspective, which proposes that language capacity (LC) is dissociated from other cognitive systems. Results of a one-way repeated measures ANOVA under three conditions, F(2, 96) = 52.88, p 2 = .52, suggest that mere exposure to highly frequent, familiar, and emotionally salient stimuli shapes long-term cognitive processing patterns. Implications extend to models of language acquisition, auditory processing, and implicit learning. Learning any variety of motherese, or even the persistence of motherese, is a feature of mere exposure heightened by frequency and salience.