Eye movements and the identification of spatially ambiguous words during Chinese sentence reading

Readers of Chinese must generally determine word units in the absence of visually distinct interword spaces. In the present study, we examined how a sequence of Chinese characters is parsed into words under these conditions. Eye movements were monitored while participants read sentences with a critical four-character (C1234) sequence. Three partially overlapping character groupings formed legal words in the ambiguous condition (C12, C23, and C34), two of which corresponded to contextconsistent words (C12 and C34). Two nonoverlapping groupings corresponded to legal words in the control conditions (C12 and C34). In two experiments, readers spent more time viewing the critical character sequence and its two center characters (C23) in the ambiguous condition. These results argue against the strictly serial assignment of characters to words during the reading of Chinese text.

[1]  A. Inhoff,et al.  Chapter 2 – Definition and Computation of Oculomotor Measures in the Study of Cognitive Processes , 1998 .

[2]  Albrecht W. Inhoff,et al.  Use of parafoveally visible characters during the reading of Chinese sentences. , 2002, Journal of experimental psychology. Human perception and performance.

[3]  K. Rayner,et al.  Toward a model of eye movement control in reading. , 1998 .

[4]  S H Hsu,et al.  Effects of Word Spacing on Reading Chinese Text from a Video Display Terminal , 2000, Perceptual and motor skills.

[5]  A. Inhoff,et al.  The perceptual span and oculomotor activity during the reading of Chinese sentences. , 1998, Journal of experimental psychology. Human perception and performance.

[6]  Jie-Li Tsai,et al.  Where Do Chinese Readers Send Their Eyes , 2003 .

[7]  A. Jacobs,et al.  Optimal viewing position effect in word recognition: A challenge to current theory. , 1992 .

[8]  Albrecht W. Inhoff,et al.  The Biology of Reading: Use of Spatial Segmentation in the Reading of Complex Words , 2002 .

[9]  A W Inhoff,et al.  Is the processing of words during eye fixations in reading strictly serial? , 2000, Perception & psychophysics.

[10]  Robin K. Morris,et al.  Eye movement guidance in reading: the role of parafoveal letter and space information. , 1990, Journal of experimental psychology. Human perception and performance.

[11]  Exterior letters are not privileged in the early stage of visual word recognition during reading: comment on Jordan, Thomas, Patching and Scott-Brown (2003). , 2003, Journal of experimental psychology. Learning, memory, and cognition.

[12]  Erik D. Reichle,et al.  The E-Z Reader model of eye-movement control in reading: Comparisons to other models , 2003, Behavioral and Brain Sciences.

[13]  Keith Rayner,et al.  The role of interword spaces in the processing of English compound words , 2005 .

[14]  Naoyuki Osaka,et al.  Eye movement control in reading unspaced text: the case of the Japanese script , 2001, Vision Research.

[15]  Albrecht W. Inhoff,et al.  Advancing the methodological middle ground , 2003 .

[16]  Alexander Pollatsek,et al.  Unspaced text interferes with both word identification and eye movement control , 1998, Vision Research.

[17]  B. Malt,et al.  Peripheral and cognitive components of eye guidance in filled-space reading , 1978, Perception & psychophysics.

[18]  P. W. Kerr,et al.  Eye movement control during reading: I. The location of initial eye fixations on words , 1987, Vision Research.

[19]  George W. McConkie,et al.  Reading Chinese: Some basic eye-movement characteristics. , 1999 .

[20]  S. Hsu,et al.  Interword Spacing in Chinese Text Layout , 2000, Perceptual and motor skills.

[21]  Albrecht W. Inhoff,et al.  Complex compounds in German: Interword spaces facilitate segmentation but hinder assignment of meaning , 2000 .

[22]  K. Rayner.  Eye movements in reading and information processing: 20 years of research. , 1998, Psychological bulletin.

[23]  Robin K. Morris,et al.  Eye movements and lexical ambiguity resolution: effects of prior encounter and discourse topic. , 1995 .

[24]  Gary Libben,et al.  How is morphological decomposition achieved , 1994 .

[25]  Alexander Pollatsek,et al.  Eye movement control in reading: The role of word boundaries. , 1982 .

[26]  Jian Wang,et al.  Reading Chinese Script : A Cognitive Analysis , 1999 .

[27]  K. Rayner.  Eye Guidance in Reading: Fixation Locations within Words , 1979, Perception.

[28]  James R. Booth,et al.  Reading unspaced text: Implications for theories of reading eye movements , 1994, Vision Research.

[29]  G. McConkie,et al.  Chapter 4 – Determinants of Fixation Positions in Words During Reading , 1998 .

[30]  H A Simon,et al.  STM capacity for Chinese and English language materials , 1985, Memory & cognition.