A corpus-based versus experimental examination of word- and character-frequency effects in Chinese reading: Theoretical implications for models of reading.

Abstract

Chinese words consist of a variable number of characters that are normally written in continuous lines, without the blank spaces that are used to separate words in most alphabetic writing systems. These conventions raise questions about the relative roles of character versus whole-word processing in word identification, and how words are segmented from strings of characters for the purpose of their identification and saccade targeting. The present article attempts to address these questions by reporting an eye-movement experiment in which 60 participants read a corpus of sentences containing two-character target words that varied in terms of their overall frequency and the frequency of their initial characters. We examine participants’ eye movements using both corpus-based statistical models and more standard analyses of our target words. In addition to documenting how key lexical variables influence eye movements and highlighting a few discrepancies between the results obtained using our two statistical approaches, our experiment shows that high-frequency initial characters can actually slow word identification. We discuss the theoretical significance of this finding and others for current models of Chinese reading, and then describe a new computational model of eye-movement control during the reading of Chinese. Finally, we report simulations showing that this model can account for our findings.

Are there preferred viewing locations in Chinese reading? Evidence from eye-tracking and computer simulations.

“…Given this assumption, the probability of targeting various possible positions can be estimated using the number of fixations on the words. Specifically, using M. Yan et al's assumption, four mutually exclusive types of saccades (launched from word N-1) can be defined: (a) saccades that result in word N-1 being refixated; (b) saccades that result in word N being fixated exactly once (presumably because it was segmented from word N-1); (c) saccades that result 4 The models were developed to quantitatively describe the relationship between saccade targeting/length and parafoveal word segmentation/ identification, rather than being complete models of Chinese reading per se (cf., see Yu et al, 2021). Despite this limitation, the models are quite useful because their conceptual transparency allows one to directly compare their relative performance.…”

Adult age differences in parafoveal preview effects during reading: Evidence from Chinese.

“…Consequently, if older adults’ parafoveal processing suffers more from cognitive load, as the present findings and those reported by Payne and Stine-Morrow (2012) suggest, increased costs associated with N + 1 processing may attenuate N + 2 preview effects more for older than younger adults. Such findings add to our understanding of aging effects on parafoveal processing in reading, especially in the context of current models of eye movement control in Chinese reading, which emphasize the central importance of parafoveal processing for reading efficiency (Li & Pollatsek, 2020; Yu et al, 2020).…”

“…Consequently, such studies may be important for understanding aging effects on parafoveal processing across different writing systems, and will help inform the future development of models of eye movement control for Chinese reading (Li & Pollatsek, 2020;Yu et al, 2020). This was therefore the focus of the present experiment.…”

“…Such findings have influenced the development of computational models of eye movement control for Chinese reading. In particular, current models emphasize the importance of parafoveal processing for reading fluency, by assuming that readers use specific processing strategies to maximize the number of characters that they can identify parafoveally on each fixation and to direct the next eye movement beyond these characters (Li & Pollatsek, 2020; see also Yu et al, 2020).…”

“…However, few studies to date have investigated adult age differences in parafoveal processing in Chinese reading (but see Xie et al, 2020), although, as we have noted, this script’s capacity to support both N + 1 and N + 2 parafoveal preview effects suggests that it is well-suited for assessing such age differences. Consequently, such studies may be important for understanding aging effects on parafoveal processing across different writing systems, and will help inform the future development of models of eye movement control for Chinese reading (Li & Pollatsek, 2020; Yu et al, 2020).…”