The language production and perception systems rapidly learn novel phonotactic
constraints. In production, for example, producing syllables in which /f/ is restricted to onset
position (e.g. as /h/ is in English) causes one’s speech errors to mirror that restriction. We
asked whether or not perceptual experience of a novel phonotactic distribution transfers
to production. In three experiments, participants alternated hearing and producing strings
of syllables. In the same condition, the production and perception trials followed identical
phonotactics (e.g. /f/ is onset). In the opposite condition, they followed reverse constraints
(e.g. /f/ is onset for production, but /f/ is coda for perception). The tendency for speech errors
to follow the production constraint was diluted when the opposite pattern was present on
perception trials, thus demonstrating transfer of learning from perception to production.
Transfer only occurred for perceptual tasks that may involve internal production, including
an error monitoring task, which we argue engages production via prediction.