distributions. Presumably, acoustic inputs that are infrequently produced would require more processing and neural resources compared to acoustic inputs that are in the center of a category or that match more closely a word representation. As such, both processing and neural resources would be freed up when more frequent features and lexical items occur, and additional resources would be needed for less frequent occurrences. In this way, the system is not only flexible but also plastic, affording a means for the basic stable structure of speech to be shaped and influenced by experience.
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