Research suggests that phonological ability exerts a gradient influence on talker identification, including evidence that adults and children with reading disability show impaired talker recognition for native and non-native languages. The present study examined whether this relationship is also observed among unimpaired readers. Learning rate and generalization of learning in a talker identification task were examined in average and advanced readers who were tested in both native and non-native language conditions. The results indicate that even among unimpaired readers, phonological competence as captured by reading ability exerts a gradient influence on perceptual learning for talkers' voices.

Main effect of language Main effect of reading group No interaction between language and reading group Main effect of language Main effect of reading group Interaction between language and reading group