TY - JOUR A1 - Pan, Jinger A1 - Yan, Ming A1 - Laubrock, Jochen T1 - Semantic preview benefit and cost BT - evidence from parafoveal fast-priming paradigm JF - Cognition : international journal of cognitive science N2 - 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. KW - parafoveal KW - oral reading KW - Chinese KW - semantic preview cost Y1 - 2020 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cognition.2020.104452 SN - 0010-0277 SN - 1873-7838 VL - 205 PB - Elsevier CY - Amsterdam ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Wu, Fuyun A1 - Kaiser, Elsi A1 - Vasishth, Shravan T1 - Effects of early cues on the processing of chinese relative clauses BT - evidence for experience-based theories JF - Cognitive science : a multidisciplinary journal of anthropology, artificial intelligence, education, linguistics, neuroscience, philosophy, psychology ; journal of the Cognitive Science Society N2 - 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. KW - Storage cost KW - Experience KW - Relative clause KW - Chinese KW - Classifiers KW - BEI Y1 - 2017 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1111/cogs.12551 SN - 0364-0213 SN - 1551-6709 VL - 42 SP - 1101 EP - 1133 PB - Wiley CY - Hoboken ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Zhou, Wei A1 - Wang, Aiping A1 - Shu, Hua A1 - Kliegl, Reinhold A1 - Yan, Ming T1 - Word segmentation by alternating colors facilitates eye guidance in Chinese reading JF - Memory & cognition N2 - 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-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. KW - Chinese KW - Word segmentation KW - Fixation location KW - Parafoveal KW - Color Y1 - 2018 U6 - https://doi.org/10.3758/s13421-018-0797-5 SN - 0090-502X SN - 1532-5946 VL - 46 IS - 5 SP - 729 EP - 740 PB - Springer CY - New York ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Yan, Ming A1 - Pan, Jinger A1 - Chang, Wenshuo A1 - Kliegl, Reinhold T1 - Read sideways or not: vertical saccade advantage in sentence reading JF - Reading and writing : an interdisciplinary journal N2 - During the reading of alphabetic scripts and scene perception, eye movements are programmed more efficiently in horizontal direction than in vertical direction. We propose that such a directional advantage may be due the overwhelming reading experience in the horizontal direction. Writing orientation is highly flexible for Traditional Chinese sentences. We compare horizontal and vertical eye movements during reading of such sentences and provide first evidence of a text-orientation effect on eye-movement control during reading. In addition to equivalent reading speed in both directions, more fine-grained analyses demonstrate a tradeoff between longer fixation durations and better fixation locations in vertical than in horizontal reading. Our results suggest that with extensive reading experience, Traditional Chinese readers can generate saccades more efficiently in vertical than in horizontal direction. KW - Chinese KW - Eye movement KW - Reading KW - Text orientation Y1 - 2019 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1007/s11145-018-9930-x SN - 0922-4777 SN - 1573-0905 VL - 32 IS - 8 SP - 1911 EP - 1926 PB - Springer CY - Dordrecht ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Yan, Ming A1 - Pan, Jinger A1 - Kliegl, Reinhold T1 - Eye Movement Control in Chinese Reading: A Cross-Sectional Study JF - Developmental psychology N2 - The present study explored the age-related changes of eye movement control in reading-that is, where to send the eyes and when to move them. Different orthographies present readers with somewhat different problems to solve, and this might, in turn, be reflected in different patterns of development of reading skill. Participants of different developmental levels (Grade 3, N = 30; Grade 5, N = 27 and adults, N = 27) were instructed to read sentences for comprehension while their eye movements were recorded. Contrary to previous findings that have been well documented indicating early maturation of saccade generation in English, current results showed that saccade generation among Chinese readers was still under development at Grade 5, although immediate lexical processing was relatively well-established. The distinct age-related changes in eye movements are attributable to certain linguistic properties of Chinese including the lack of interword spaces and word boundary uncertainty. The present study offers an example of how human eye movement adapts to the orthographic environment. KW - Chinese KW - eye movement KW - reading KW - development Y1 - 2019 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1037/dev0000819 SN - 0012-1649 SN - 1939-0599 VL - 55 IS - 11 SP - 2275 EP - 2285 PB - American Psychological Association CY - Washington ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Luo, Yingyi A1 - Yan, Ming A1 - Yan, Shaorong A1 - Zhou, Xiaolin A1 - Inhoff, Albrecht W. T1 - Syllabic tone articulation influences the identification and use of words during Chinese sentence reading: Evidence from ERP and eye movement recordings JF - The science of the total environment : an international journal for scientific research into the environment and its relationship with man N2 - 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. KW - Lexical tone KW - Neutral tone KW - Articulation duration KW - Syllabic tone KW - Sentence reading KW - Chinese Y1 - 2016 U6 - https://doi.org/10.3758/s13415-015-0368-1 SN - 1530-7026 SN - 1531-135X VL - 16 SP - 72 EP - 92 PB - Springer CY - New York ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Wang, Aiping A1 - Yeon, Junmo A1 - Zhou, Wei A1 - Shu, Hua A1 - Yan, Ming T1 - Cross-language parafoveal semantic processing: Evidence from Korean-Chinese bilinguals JF - Applied physics letters N2 - 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. KW - Parafoveal KW - Semantics KW - Korean KW - Chinese KW - Bilingual Y1 - 2016 U6 - https://doi.org/10.3758/s13423-015-0876-6 SN - 1069-9384 SN - 1531-5320 VL - 23 SP - 285 EP - 290 PB - Springer CY - New York ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Yan, Ming A1 - Kliegl, Reinhold T1 - CarPrice versus CarpRice: Word Boundary Ambiguity Influences Saccade Target Selection During the Reading of Chinese Sentences JF - Journal of experimental psychology : Learning, memory, and cognition N2 - As a contribution to a theoretical debate about the degree of high-level influences on saccade targeting during sentence reading, we investigated eye movements during the reading of structurally ambiguous Chinese character strings and examined whether parafoveal word segmentation could influence saccade-target selection. As expected, ambiguous strings took longer to process. More critically there were theoretically relevant interactions between ambiguity and launch site when first-fixation location and saccade amplitude served as dependent variables: Ambiguous strings in the parafovea triggered longer saccades and more rightward fixations for close launch sites than unambiguous ones; the reverse result was obtained for far launch sites. These crossover interactions indicate that parafoveal word segmentation influences saccade generation in Chinese and provide support of the hypothesis that high-level information can be involved in the decision about where to fixate next. KW - Chinese KW - ambiguity KW - fixation location KW - parafoveal KW - word segmentation Y1 - 2016 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1037/xlm0000276 SN - 0278-7393 SN - 1939-1285 VL - 42 SP - 1832 EP - 1838 PB - American Psychological Association CY - Washington ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Yan, Ming A1 - Pan, Jinger A1 - Belanger, Nathalie N. A1 - Shu, Hua T1 - Chinese deaf readers have early access to parafoveal semantics JF - Journal of experimental psychology : Learning, memory, and cognition N2 - In the present study, we manipulated different types of information available in the parafovea during the reading of Chinese sentences and examined how deaf readers make use of the parafoveal information. Results clearly indicate that although the reading-level matched hearing readers make greater use of orthographic information in the parafovea, parafoveal semantic information is obtained earlier among the deaf readers. In addition, a phonological preview benefit effect was found for the better deaf readers (relative to less-skilled deaf readers), although we also provide an alternative explanation for this effect. Providing evidence that Chinese deaf readers have higher efficiency when processing parafoveal semantics, the study indicates flexibility across individuals in the mechanisms underlying word recognition adapting to the inputs available in the linguistic environment. KW - parafoveal KW - sentence reading KW - Chinese KW - deaf readers Y1 - 2015 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1037/xlm0000035 SN - 0278-7393 SN - 1939-1285 VL - 41 IS - 1 SP - 254 EP - 261 PB - American Psychological Association CY - Washington ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Jäger, Lena Ann A1 - Chen, Zhong A1 - Li, Qiang A1 - Lin, Chien-Jer Charles A1 - Vasishth, Shravan T1 - The subject-relative advantage in Chinese: Evidence for expectation-based processing JF - Journal of memory and language N2 - 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. KW - Sentence processing KW - Relative clause KW - Structural expectation KW - Working-memory KW - Surprisal KW - Chinese Y1 - 2015 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jml.2014.10.005 SN - 0749-596X SN - 1096-0821 VL - 79 SP - 97 EP - 120 PB - Elsevier CY - San Diego ER -