Word segmentation by alternating colors facilitates eye guidance in Chinese reading
- During sentence reading, low spatial frequency information afforded by spaces between words is the primary factor for eye guidance in spaced writing systems, whereas saccade generation for unspaced writing systems is less clear and under debate. In the present study, we investigated whether word-boundary information, provided by alternating colors (consistent or inconsistent with word-boundary information) influences saccade-target selection in Chinese. In Experiment 1, as compared to a baseline (i.e., uniform color) condition, word segmentation with alternating color shifted fixation location towards the center of words. In contrast, incorrect word segmentation shifted fixation location towards the beginning of words. In Experiment 2, we used a gaze-contingent paradigm to restrict the color manipulation only to the upcoming parafoveal words and replicated the results, including fixation location effects, as observed in Experiment 1. These results indicate that Chinese readers are capable of making use of parafoveal word-boundaryDuring sentence reading, low spatial frequency information afforded by spaces between words is the primary factor for eye guidance in spaced writing systems, whereas saccade generation for unspaced writing systems is less clear and under debate. In the present study, we investigated whether word-boundary information, provided by alternating colors (consistent or inconsistent with word-boundary information) influences saccade-target selection in Chinese. In Experiment 1, as compared to a baseline (i.e., uniform color) condition, word segmentation with alternating color shifted fixation location towards the center of words. In contrast, incorrect word segmentation shifted fixation location towards the beginning of words. In Experiment 2, we used a gaze-contingent paradigm to restrict the color manipulation only to the upcoming parafoveal words and replicated the results, including fixation location effects, as observed in Experiment 1. These results indicate that Chinese readers are capable of making use of parafoveal word-boundary knowledge for saccade generation, even if such information is unfamiliar to them. The present study provides novel support for the hypothesis that word segmentation is involved in the decision about where to fixate next during Chinese reading.…
Author details: | Wei Zhou, Aiping Wang, Hua Shu, Reinhold KlieglORCiDGND, Ming YanORCiDGND |
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DOI: | https://doi.org/10.3758/s13421-018-0797-5 |
ISSN: | 0090-502X |
ISSN: | 1532-5946 |
Pubmed ID: | https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/29435825 |
Title of parent work (English): | Memory & cognition |
Publisher: | Springer |
Place of publishing: | New York |
Publication type: | Article |
Language: | English |
Date of first publication: | 2018/02/12 |
Publication year: | 2018 |
Release date: | 2021/11/15 |
Tag: | Chinese; Color; Fixation location; Parafoveal; Word segmentation |
Volume: | 46 |
Issue: | 5 |
Number of pages: | 12 |
First page: | 729 |
Last Page: | 740 |
Funding institution: | Deutsche ForschungsgemeinschaftGerman Research Foundation (DFG) [KL 955/18]; Natural Science Foundation of ChinaNational Natural Science Foundation of China [31500886, 31671126, 31611130107]; Research Fund for the Talented Person of Beijing City [2014000020124G238]; National Key Basic Research Program of ChinaNational Basic Research Program of China [2014CB846103]; Beijing Municipal Science & Technology CommissionBeijing Municipal Science & Technology Commission [Z151100003915122] |
Organizational units: | Humanwissenschaftliche Fakultät / Strukturbereich Kognitionswissenschaften / Department Psychologie |
DDC classification: | 1 Philosophie und Psychologie / 15 Psychologie / 150 Psychologie |
Peer review: | Referiert |
Publishing method: | Open Access / Bronze Open-Access |