The way we process language is influenced by our experience. We are more likely to attend to features that proved to be useful in the past. Importantly, the size of individuals’ social network can influence their experience, and consequently, how they process language. In the case of voice recognition, having a larger social network might provide more variable input and thus enhance the ability to recognize new voices. On the other hand, learning to recognize voices is more demanding and less beneficial for people with a larger social network as they have more speakers to learn yet spend less time with each. This paper tests whether social network size influences voice recognition, and if so, in which direction. Native Dutch speakers listed their social network and performed a voice recognition task. Results showed that people with larger social networks were poorer at learning to recognize voices. Experiment 2 replicated the results with a British sample and English stimuli. Experiment 3 showed that the effect does not generalize to voice recognition in an unfamiliar language suggesting that social network size influences attention to the linguistic rather than non-linguistic markers that differentiate speakers. The studies thus show that our social network size influences our inclination to learn speaker-specific patterns in our environment, and consequently the development of skills that rely on such learned patterns, such as voice recognition.

我们处理语言的方式受到我们的经验的影响。我们更有可能关注过去被证明有用的功能。重要的是，个人社交网络的规模会影响他们的体验，进而影响他们处理语言的方式。在语音识别的情况下，拥有更大的社交网络可能会提供更多可变的输入，从而增强识别新语音的能力。另一方面，对于拥有更大社交网络的人来说，学习识别声音的要求更高，而且益处更少，因为他们有更多的演讲者需要学习，但每个人花费的时间更少。本文测试了社交网络的大小是否会影响语音识别，如果是，影响方向。母语为荷兰语的人列出了他们的社交网络并执行了语音识别任务。结果表明，拥有较大社交网络的人学习识别声音的能力较差。实验 2 用英国样本和英国刺激物复制了结果。实验 3 表明，这种效果并不能推广到陌生语言中的语音识别，这表明社交网络的大小会影响对语言而不是区分说话者的非语言标记的注意力。因此，研究表明，我们的社交网络规模会影响我们在环境中学习特定说话者模式的倾向，从而影响依赖这种学习模式的技能发展，例如语音识别。实验 3 表明，这种效果并不能推广到陌生语言中的语音识别，这表明社交网络的大小会影响对语言而不是区分说话者的非语言标记的注意力。因此，研究表明，我们的社交网络规模会影响我们在环境中学习特定说话者模式的倾向，从而影响依赖这种学习模式的技能发展，例如语音识别。实验 3 表明，这种效果并不能推广到陌生语言中的语音识别，这表明社交网络的大小会影响对语言而不是区分说话者的非语言标记的注意力。因此，研究表明，我们的社交网络规模会影响我们在环境中学习特定说话者模式的倾向，从而影响依赖这种学习模式的技能发展，例如语音识别。