Self-monitoring and feedback: A new attempt to find the main cause of lexical bias in phonological speech errors

Abstract

This paper reports two experiments designed to investigate whether lexical bias in phonological speech errors is caused by immediate feedback of activation, by self-monitoring of inner speech, or by both. The experiments test a number of predictions derived from a model of self-monitoring of inner speech. This model assumes that, after an error in inner speech, (1) an early interruption of speech may be made when speech was initiated too hastily, (2) the error may be covertly repaired, leading to the correct target, (3) the error may be covertly replaced by another speech error, or (4) an error may go undetected, leading to a completed spoonerism. This model of self-monitoring was supported by the speech errors observed in two SLIP experiments. The pattern of results supports the idea that lexical bias has two sources, immediate feedback of activation and self-monitoring of inner speech.