Faster key-press responses to front vowels than back vowels when matching heard vowels with represented vowels.

This study investigated key-press responses to five spoken Japanese vowels: [ɑ], [i], [ɯ], [e], and [o]. In the first experiment, 30 participants pushed only a single key when they listened to spoken Japanese vowels (response task). In the second experiment, another 29 participants matched the heard vowels with represented vowels by pushing one of five corresponding keys (matching task). The results of the first experiment showed no difference in the response times to the five vowels. In the second experiment, the response times to [i] and [e] were faster than those to [ɯ] and [o]. These results suggest that front vowels promote faster key-press responses than back vowels when the keys corresponding to the heard vowels are consciously selected.