Abstract: Ample statistical learning (SL) studies have shown that individuals can perform word segmentation by tracking the likelihood of syllable co-occurrences in continuous speech. The classic “exposure-test” paradigm was widely used in this field, in which participants were first exposed to an artificial language and then tested in a forced choice task to assess learning effects. Recently, research has shown that participants’ linguistic background, including their phonological and lexical experience, may result in experience-dependent SL. After a systematic review, we also discuss the direction for future SL studies. Specifically, we suggest that for studies involving Mandarin native speakers, researchers should carefully examine the separate and combined effects of various linguistic experience in order to better understand statistical word segmentation.

Key words: linguistic experience, statistical information, word segmentation