@article{JaegerChenLietal.2015, author = {J{\"a}ger, Lena Ann and Chen, Zhong and Li, Qiang and Lin, Chien-Jer Charles and Vasishth, Shravan}, title = {The subject-relative advantage in Chinese: Evidence for expectation-based processing}, series = {Journal of memory and language}, volume = {79}, journal = {Journal of memory and language}, publisher = {Elsevier}, address = {San Diego}, issn = {0749-596X}, doi = {10.1016/j.jml.2014.10.005}, pages = {97 -- 120}, year = {2015}, abstract = {Chinese relative clauses are an important test case for pitting the predictions of expectation-based accounts against those of memory-based theories. The memory-based accounts predict that object relatives are easier to process than subject relatives because, in object relatives, the distance between the relative clause verb and the head noun is shorter. By contrast, expectation-based accounts such as surprisal predict that the less frequent object relative should be harder to process. In previous studies on Chinese relative clause comprehension, local ambiguities may have rendered a comparison between relative clause types uninterpretable. We designed experimental materials in which no local ambiguities confound the comparison. We ran two experiments (self-paced reading and eye-tracking) to compare reading difficulty in subject and object relatives which were placed either in subject or object modifying position. The evidence from our studies is consistent with the predictions of expectation-based accounts but not with those of memory-based theories. (C) 2014 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.}, language = {en} } @article{LuoYanYanetal.2016, author = {Luo, Yingyi and Yan, Ming and Yan, Shaorong and Zhou, Xiaolin and Inhoff, Albrecht W.}, title = {Syllabic tone articulation influences the identification and use of words during Chinese sentence reading: Evidence from ERP and eye movement recordings}, series = {The science of the total environment : an international journal for scientific research into the environment and its relationship with man}, volume = {16}, journal = {The science of the total environment : an international journal for scientific research into the environment and its relationship with man}, publisher = {Springer}, address = {New York}, issn = {1530-7026}, doi = {10.3758/s13415-015-0368-1}, pages = {72 -- 92}, year = {2016}, abstract = {In two experiments, we examined the contribution of articulation-specific features to visual word recognition during the reading of Chinese. In spoken Standard Chinese, a syllable with a full tone can be tone-neutralized through sound weakening and pitch contour change, and there are two types of two-character compound words with respect to their articulation variation. One type requires articulation of a full tone for each constituent character, and the other requires a full- and a neutral-tone articulation for the first and second characters, respectively. Words of these two types with identical first characters were selected and embedded in sentences. Native speakers of Standard Chinese were recruited to read the sentences. In Experiment 1, the individual words of a sentence were presented serially at a fixed pace while event-related potentials were recorded. This resulted in less-negative N100 and anterior N250 amplitudes and in more-negative N400 amplitudes when targets contained a neutral tone. Complete sentences were visible in Experiment 2, and eye movements were recorded while participants read. Analyses of oculomotor activity revealed shorter viewing durations and fewer refixations on-and fewer regressive saccades to-target words when their second syllable was articulated with a neutral rather than a full tone. Together, the results indicate that readers represent articulation-specific word properties, that these representations are routinely activated early during the silent reading of Chinese sentences, and that the representations are also used during later stages of word processing.}, language = {en} } @article{PanShuWangetal.2015, author = {Pan, Jinger and Shu, Hua and Wang, Yuling and Yan, Ming}, title = {Parafoveal activation of sign translation previews among deaf readers during the reading of Chinese sentences}, series = {Memory \& cognition}, volume = {43}, journal = {Memory \& cognition}, number = {6}, publisher = {Springer}, address = {New York}, issn = {0090-502X}, doi = {10.3758/s13421-015-0511-9}, pages = {964 -- 972}, year = {2015}, abstract = {In the present study, we manipulated the different types of information available in the parafovea during the reading of Chinese sentences and examined whether deaf readers could activate sign translations of Chinese words during reading. The main finding was that, as compared to unrelated previews, the deaf readers had longer fixation durations on the target words when sign-phonologically related preview words were presented; this preview cost effect due to sign-phonological relatedness was absent for reading-level-matched hearing individuals. These results indicate that Chinese deaf readers activate sign language translations of parafoveal words during reading. We discuss the implications for notions of parafoveal processing in reading.}, language = {en} } @article{PanYanLaubrock2020, author = {Pan, Jinger and Yan, Ming and Laubrock, Jochen}, title = {Semantic preview benefit and cost}, series = {Cognition : international journal of cognitive science}, volume = {205}, journal = {Cognition : international journal of cognitive science}, publisher = {Elsevier}, address = {Amsterdam}, issn = {0010-0277}, doi = {10.1016/j.cognition.2020.104452}, pages = {10}, year = {2020}, abstract = {How is semantic information in the mental lexicon accessed and selected during reading? Readers process information of both the foveal and parafoveal words. Recent eye-tracking studies hint at bi-phasic lexical activation dynamics, demonstrating that semantically related parafoveal previews can either facilitate, or interfere with lexical processing of target words in comparison to unrelated previews, with the size and direction of the effect depending on exposure time to parafoveal previews. However, evidence to date is only correlational, because exposure time was determined by participants' pre-target fixation durations. Here we experimentally controlled parafoveal preview exposure duration using a combination of the gaze-contingent fast-priming and boundary paradigms. We manipulated preview duration and examined the time course of parafoveal semantic activation during the oral reading of Chinese sentences in three experiments. Semantic previews led to faster lexical access of target words than unrelated previews only when the previews were presented briefly (80 ms in Experiments 1 and 3). Longer exposure time (100 ms or 150 ms) eliminated semantic preview effects, and full preview without duration limit resulted in preview cost, i.e., a reversal of preview benefit. Our results indicate that high-level semantic information can be obtained from parafoveal words and the size and direction of the parafoveal semantic effect depends on the level of lexical activation.}, language = {en} } @article{PanYanLaubrocketal.2014, author = {Pan, Jinger and Yan, Ming and Laubrock, Jochen and Shu, Hua and Kliegl, Reinhold}, title = {Saccade-target selection of dyslexic children when reading Chinese}, series = {Vision research : an international journal for functional aspects of vision.}, volume = {97}, journal = {Vision research : an international journal for functional aspects of vision.}, publisher = {Elsevier}, address = {Oxford}, issn = {0042-6989}, doi = {10.1016/j.visres.2014.01.014}, pages = {24 -- 30}, year = {2014}, abstract = {This study investigates the eye movements of dyslexic children and their age-matched controls when reading Chinese. Dyslexic children exhibited more and longer fixations than age-matched control children, and an increase of word length resulted in a greater increase in the number of fixations and gaze durations for the dyslexic than for the control readers. The report focuses on the finding that there was a significant difference between the two groups in the fixation landing position as a function of word length in single-fixation cases, while there was no such difference in the initial fixation of multi-fixation cases. We also found that both groups had longer incoming saccade amplitudes while the launch sites were closer to the word in single fixation cases than in multi-fixation cases. Our results suggest that dyslexic children's inefficient lexical processing, in combination with the absence of orthographic word boundaries in Chinese, leads them to select saccade targets at the beginning of words conservatively. These findings provide further evidence for parafoveal word segmentation during reading of Chinese sentences.}, language = {en} } @article{ShuZhouYanetal.2011, author = {Shu, Hua and Zhou, Wei and Yan, Ming and Kliegl, Reinhold}, title = {Font size modulates saccade-target selection in Chinese reading}, series = {Attention, perception, \& psychophysics : AP\&P ; a journal of the Psychonomic Society, Inc.}, volume = {73}, journal = {Attention, perception, \& psychophysics : AP\&P ; a journal of the Psychonomic Society, Inc.}, number = {2}, publisher = {Springer}, address = {New York}, issn = {1943-3921}, doi = {10.3758/s13414-010-0029-y}, pages = {482 -- 490}, year = {2011}, abstract = {In alphabetic writing systems, saccade amplitude (a close correlate of reading speed) is independent of font size, presumably because an increase in the angular size of letters is compensated for by a decrease of visual acuity with eccentricity. We propose that this invariance may (also) be due to the presence of spaces between words, guiding the eyes across a large range of font sizes. Here, we test whether saccade amplitude is also invariant against manipulations of font size during reading Chinese, a character-based writing system without spaces as explicit word boundaries for saccade-target selection. In contrast to word-spaced alphabetic writing systems, saccade amplitude decreased significantly with increased font size, leading to an increase in the number of fixations at the beginning of words and in the number of refixations. These results are consistent with a model which assumes that word beginning (rather than word center) is the default saccade target if the length of the parafoveal word is not available.}, language = {en} } @article{WangYeonZhouetal.2016, author = {Wang, Aiping and Yeon, Junmo and Zhou, Wei and Shu, Hua and Yan, Ming}, title = {Cross-language parafoveal semantic processing: Evidence from Korean-Chinese bilinguals}, series = {Applied physics letters}, volume = {23}, journal = {Applied physics letters}, publisher = {Springer}, address = {New York}, issn = {1069-9384}, doi = {10.3758/s13423-015-0876-6}, pages = {285 -- 290}, year = {2016}, abstract = {In the present study, we aimed at testing cross-language cognate and semantic preview effects. We tested how native Korean readers who learned Chinese as a second language make use of the parafoveal information during the reading of Chinese sentences. There were 3 types of Korean preview words: cognate translations of the Chinese target words, semantically related noncognate words, and unrelated words. Together with a highly significant cognate preview effect, more critically, we also observed reliable facilitation in processing of the target word from the semantically related previews in all fixation measures. Results from the present study provide first evidence for semantic processing from parafoveally presented Korean words and for cross-language parafoveal semantic processing.}, language = {en} } @article{WangZhouShuetal.2014, author = {Wang, Aiping and Zhou, Wei and Shu, Hua and Yan, Ming}, title = {Reading proficiency modulates parafoveal processing efficiency: Evidence from reading Chinese as a second language}, series = {Acta psychologica : international journal of psychonomics}, volume = {152}, journal = {Acta psychologica : international journal of psychonomics}, publisher = {Elsevier}, address = {Amsterdam}, issn = {0001-6918}, doi = {10.1016/j.actpsy.2014.07.010}, pages = {29 -- 33}, year = {2014}, abstract = {In the present study, we manipulated different types of information available in the parafovea during the reading of Chinese sentences and examined how native Korean readers who learned Chinese as a second language make use of the parafoveal information. Results clearly indicate that, only identical and orthographically similar previews facilitated processing of the target words when they were subsequently fixated. More critically, more parafoveal information was obtained by subjects with higher reading proficiency. These results suggest that, mainly low-level features of the parafoveal words are obtained by the non-native Chinese readers and less attentional resources are available for the readers with lower reading proficiency, thereby causing a reduction of the perceptual span.}, language = {en} } @article{WuKaiserVasishth2017, author = {Wu, Fuyun and Kaiser, Elsi and Vasishth, Shravan}, title = {Effects of early cues on the processing of chinese relative clauses}, series = {Cognitive science : a multidisciplinary journal of anthropology, artificial intelligence, education, linguistics, neuroscience, philosophy, psychology ; journal of the Cognitive Science Society}, volume = {42}, journal = {Cognitive science : a multidisciplinary journal of anthropology, artificial intelligence, education, linguistics, neuroscience, philosophy, psychology ; journal of the Cognitive Science Society}, publisher = {Wiley}, address = {Hoboken}, issn = {0364-0213}, doi = {10.1111/cogs.12551}, pages = {1101 -- 1133}, year = {2017}, abstract = {We used Chinese prenominal relative clauses (RCs) to test the predictions of two competing accounts of sentence comprehension difficulty: the experience-based account of Levy () and the Dependency Locality Theory (DLT; Gibson, ). Given that in Chinese RCs, a classifier and/or a passive marker BEI can be added to the sentence-initial position, we manipulated the presence/absence of classifiers and the presence/absence of BEI, such that BEI sentences were passivized subject-extracted RCs, and no-BEI sentences were standard object-extracted RCs. We conducted two self-paced reading experiments, using the same critical stimuli but somewhat different filler items. Reading time patterns from both experiments showed facilitative effects of BEI within and beyond RC regions, and delayed facilitative effects of classifiers, suggesting that cues that occur before a clear signal of an upcoming RC can help Chinese comprehenders to anticipate RC structures. The data patterns are not predicted by the DLT, but they are consistent with the predictions of experience-based theories.}, language = {en} } @article{Yan2015, author = {Yan, Ming}, title = {Visually complex foveal words increase the amount of parafoveal information acquired}, series = {Vision research : an international journal for functional aspects of vision.}, volume = {111}, journal = {Vision research : an international journal for functional aspects of vision.}, publisher = {Elsevier}, address = {Oxford}, issn = {0042-6989}, doi = {10.1016/j.visres.2015.03.025}, pages = {91 -- 96}, year = {2015}, abstract = {This study investigates the effect of foveal load (i.e., processing difficulty of currently fixated words) on parafoveal information processing. Contrary to the commonly accepted view that high foveal load leads to reduced parafoveal processing efficiency, results of the present study showed that increasing foveal visual (but not linguistic) processing load actually increased the amount of parafoveal information acquired, presumably due to the fact that longer fixation duration on the pretarget word provided more time for parafoveal processing of the target word. It is therefore proposed in the present study that foveal linguistic processing load is not the only factor that determines parafoveal processing; preview time (afforded by foveal word visual processing load) may jointly influence parafoveal processing. (C) 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.}, language = {en} }