词素位置概率在中文阅读中的作用：词汇判断和眼动研究

中文词切分的认知机制一直是心理语言学关注的焦点问题之一,研究发现中文读者可使用词素位置概率等语言学线索帮助词切分,而首、尾词素位置概率的重要程度以往研究观点并不一致。本研究通过词汇判断和眼动实验,考察中文读者对首、尾词素位置概率的利用情况。实验1a和1b采用词汇判断任务,考察在不同词频条件下词首与词尾词素位置概率对词汇识别的影响。在错误率和反应时指标上,高频词条件下词首与词尾词素位置概率效应不显著;低频词条件下词首词素位置概率效应显著,词尾词素位置概率效应不显著。实验2a和2b采用句子阅读任务,考察在自然阅读情境中被试对词素位置概率的运用。在凝视时间、回视路径时间和总注视时间指标上,低频词条件下词首词素位置概率效应显著,词尾词素位置概率效应不显著。高频词条件下词首与词尾词素位置概率效应均不显著。词汇判断和眼动证据共同表明,词素位置概率信息是中文读者重要的语言词切分线索,且与词尾词素位置概率相比,词首词素位置概率在词汇切分与识别过程中发挥的作用更大。同时,词素位置概率线索的运用会受到词频的影响,研究结果支持复合词加工的混合通达表征模型。     

Comparing naming, lexical decision, and eye fixation times: Word frequency effects and individual differences

Performance on three different tasks was compared: naming, lexical decision, and reading (with eye fixation times on a target word measured). We examined the word frequency effect for a common set of words for each task and each subject. Naming and reading (particularly gaze duration) yielded similar frequency effects for the target words. The frequency effect found in lexical decision was greater than that found in naming and in eye fixation times. In all tasks, there was a correlation between the frequency effect and average response time. In general, the results suggest that both the naming and the lexical decision tasks yield data about word recognition processes that are consistent with effects found in eye fixations during silent reading.     

Modulating semantic feedback in visual word recognition

According to the interactive activation framework proposed by McClelland and Rumelhart (1981), activation spreads both forward and backward between some levels of representation during visual word recognition. An important boundary condition, however, is that the spread of activation from lower to higher levels can be prevented (e.g., explicit letter processing during prime processing eliminates the well-documented semantic priming effect). Can the spread of activation from higher to lower levels also be prevented? This question was addressed with a choice task procedure in which subjects read a prime word and then responded to a target, performing either lexical decision or letter search depending on the color of the target. A semantic context effect was observed in lexical decision, providing evidence of semantic-level activation. In contrast, there was no semantic context effect in the letter search task, despite evidence of lexical involvement: Words were searched faster than nonwords. Further evidence of lexical involvement in the letter search task appeared in Experiment 2 in the form of greater identity priming for words than for nonwords. The results of these experiments are consistent with the conclusion that feedback from the semantic level to the lexical level can be blocked. Hence, between-level activation blocks can be instantiated in both bottom-up and top-down directions.     

Levels of representation in word processing

Abstract

Four experiments are described examining the effects of words frequency, orthographic structure, and letter spacing on a range of tasks designed to tap different levels of representation in word processing. In Experiment 1, the task was lexical decision. Effects of both frequency (high-frequency words were recognized faster than low-frequency words) and orthographic regularity (illegal non-words were rejected faster than legal non-words) were found. In Experiment 2 subjects had to detect a rotated letter within the letter strings. Effects of orthographic structure emerged, with a marked disadvantage for illegal non-words with respect to the other types of string. No difference was found among high-frequency words, lowfrequency words and legal non-words. In Experiment 3, subjects had to detect a letter elevated above the horizontal plan with respect to the rest of the string. Effects of both spatial arrangement of letters and number of letters were found (spaced strings were responded to less accurately than non-spaced strings and seven-letter extra-spaced strings were responded to slower than the other strings). Neither lexical nor orthograpic variables affected this task. In Experiment 4 subjects had to detect the presence of a bold segment contained in one of the letters in the strings. Performance was unaffected by both lexical and spatial variables. The pattern of results is discussed with reference to a multi-stage model of word recognition in which lexical and spatial variables affect processing at different stages. At a feature map level, in which features are extracted from the discontinuities of light intensities, processing is independent of both spatial and lexical factors. At a letter-shape map level, in which spatial relationships between features are coded, spacing between letters affects encoding. At a graphemic map level, in which letter identities and their relative positions within strings are coded, orthographic variables have an effect. Lexicality and frequency affect only subsequent stages of processing, when stored lexical information is retrieved (e.g. for lexical decision).     

Cognitive effort and the word frequency effect in recognition and lexical decision

Cognitive effort requirements for high and low frequency words were assessed during study for a recognition test and during the performance of a lexical decision task. Recognition for these words was tested following each task. Low frequency words received greater effort than high frequency words during study for recognition, and these words were subsequently recognized better than high frequency words. Cognitive effort requirements during performance of an incidental lexical decision task were similar to those during study for recognition. Moreover, recognition performance following the lexical decision task resembled performance following a recognition expectancy. Overall, the results indicate that low frequency words require more extensive processing than high frequency words and that this difference in processing may be a factor in recognition word frequency effects.     

Attentional resource demands of visual word recognition in naming and lexical decisions.

Attentional demands of lexical access were assessed with dual-task methodology. Subjects performed an auditory probe task alone (single-task) or combined (dual-task) with either a lexical decision or a naming task. In Experiment 1, probe performance showed a decrement from single- to dual-task conditions during recognition of words in both lexical decision and naming tasks. In addition, decrements in probe performance were larger during processing of low-frequency compared with high-frequency words in both of the word recognition tasks. Experiment 2 showed that the time course of frequency-sensitive demands was similar across lexical decision and naming tasks and that attention is required early in the word recognition sequence. The results support the assumption that lexical access is both frequency sensitive and attention demanding.     

How strongly do word reading times and lexical decision times correlate? Combining data from eye movement corpora and megastudies

We assess the amount of shared variance between three measures of visual word recognition latencies: eye movement latencies, lexical decision times, and naming times. After partialling out the effects of word frequency and word length, two well-documented predictors of word recognition latencies, we see that 7–44% of the variance is uniquely shared between lexical decision times and naming times, depending on the frequency range of the words used. A similar analysis of eye movement latencies shows that the percentage of variance they uniquely share either with lexical decision times or with naming times is much lower. It is 5–17% for gaze durations and lexical decision times in studies with target words presented in neutral sentences, but drops to 0.2% for corpus studies in which eye movements to all words are analysed. Correlations between gaze durations and naming latencies are lower still. These findings suggest that processing times in isolated word processing and continuous text reading are affected by specific task demands and presentation format, and that lexical decision times and naming times are not very informative in predicting eye movement latencies in text reading once the effect of word frequency and word length are taken into account. The difference between controlled experiments and natural reading suggests that reading strategies and stimulus materials may determine the degree to which the immediacy-of-processing assumption and the eye–mind assumption apply. Fixation times are more likely to exclusively reflect the lexical processing of the currently fixated word in controlled studies with unpredictable target words rather than in natural reading of sentences or texts.     

Automatic phonological coding of unattended printed words

A lexical decision response to an attended printed word can be slowed when the word is accompanied by an unattended word that is semantically related. Does this hold for an unattended word that is not related to the target word but sounds as if it is? The homophone WASTE can be shown to affect the lexical decision response to RUBBISH, but how does the incongruently related homophone WAIST affect RUBBISH? If incongruent homophones of words related to the attended word can influence processing when they are not being attended to, then it must be through automatic processing into a phonological code, either before or after lexical access. Experiment 1 reports such an effect, and it is concluded that a phonological representation is generated preattentively and influences the semantic processing of the attended word after generation of that representation. Experiment 2 confirms the effect and investigates the possibility that the effect exists because of the strategic use of phonological encoding of attended words. To discourage the use of a phonological strategy for lexical access, all nonwords were pseudohomophones. The influence persisted, however, with attended words still being affected by the presence of incongruent homophones of related words.     

Hemispheric specialization and independence for word recognition: a comparison of three computational models

Two findings serve as the hallmark for hemispheric specialization during lateralized lexical decision. First is an overall word advantage, with words being recognized more quickly and accurately than non-words (the effect being stronger in response latency). Second, a right visual field advantage is observed for words, with little or no hemispheric differences in the ability to identify non-words. Several theories have been proposed to account for this difference in word and non-word recognition, some by suggesting dual routes of lexical access and others by incorporating separate, and potentially independent, word and non-word detection mechanisms. We compare three previously proposed cognitive theories of hemispheric interactions (callosal relay, direct access, and cooperative hemispheres) through neural network modeling, with each network incorporating different means of interhemispheric communication. When parameters were varied to simulate left hemisphere specialization for lexical decision, only the cooperative hemispheres model showed both a consistent left hemisphere advantage for word recognition but not non-word recognition, as well as an overall word advantage. These results support the theory that neural representations of words are more strongly established in the left hemisphere through prior learning, despite open communication between the hemispheres during both learning and recall.     

汉语双字词在心理词典中的表征方式:来自fNIRS的证据

以汉语双字构成的真词与假词为实验材料,22名大学生为被试,采用功能性近红外脑成像技术(f NIRS)和事件相关设计,考察被试在完成词汇判断任务时的大脑激活模式,探索汉语双字词在心理词典中的表征方式。结果发现:(1)在完成真假词判断任务时,被试大脑左侧额叶和左侧颞叶均被激活;(2)与判断假词相比,被试在判断真词时显著地激活左额上回和左额中回。这一结果说明汉语双字词在心理词典中是混合表征的。     

Relation between pronunciation and recognition of printed words in deep and shallow orthographies

The processes responsible for recognition and pronunciation of printed words were studied by means of lexical decision and naming experiments. Two languages were examined: English, which has a complex and deep correspondence between spelling and speech, and Serbo-Croatian, in which the correspondence is simple and direct. It was hypothesized that reliance on articulatory coding (instead of on mediation by the internal lexicon) would be greater for Serbo-Croatian because its shallow orthography would allow more efficient use of spelling-to-speech correspondences. Each target stimulus was preceded by a word that was either related or unrelated semantically. Semantic priming of target words facilitated performance in both lexical decision and naming for English, results suggesting an influence of the internal lexicon on both processes. In contrast, semantic priming facilitated only lexical decision for Serbo-Croatian, which suggests that naming, at least in that language, is not strongly influenced by the internal lexicon. Further, in Serbo-Croatian, lexical decision and naming latencies were correlated when both tasks were not semantically primed and were uncorrelated when either or both tasks received semantic priming. This suggested that articulatory coding is used in lexical decision, at least under conditions in which contextual semantic facilitation is absent. In contrast, in English, lexical decision and naming were correlated uniformly whether semantic facilitation was present or not, which, when considered with the effect of semantic facilitation on naming, suggested a stronger influence of the internal lexicon on both recognition and pronunciation.     

Does phonological change play a role in the recognition of derived forms across modalities?

This study investigates the way in which phonological change during derivation influences the access of complex words in the on-line performance of English-speaking subjects during word recognition. Three visual lexical decision experiments were administered (cross-modal priming, visual priming and simple). Overall, the results showed that the forms which were subject to phonological change during derivation were always recognized significantly slower than those without phonological alterations. The results confirm the role of phonological change in accessing derived words. They also have important implications for a theory of lexical representation.     

The contribution of prefixes to morphological processing of Spanish words

Three series of priming experiments were conducted to probe the morphological and phonological contributions to visual word recognition in Spanish. Prefixed, e.g., INCAPAZ (incapable), and pseudoprefixed, e.g., INDUSTRIA (industry) target words were presented for recognition following a prefixed, e.g., infeliz (unhappy), or pseudoprefixed, e.g., insulto (insult), prime starting with the same syllable as the target, at masked short or long stimulus onset asynchronies (SOAs). At long SOAs the recognition of prefixed targets was facilitated by prefixed primes and inhibited by pseudoprefixed ones, whereas both prefixed and pseudoprefixed primes facilitated the recognition at short SOAs. In contrast, the recognition of pseudoprefixed targets was unaffected by the kind of prime presented, even when we used pairs of words overlapping in syllables that cannot be prefixes in Spanish. These results support a special status for morphological elements in access to meaning in reading.     

The developmental turnpoint of orthographic consistency effects in speech recognition

The influence of orthography on children's online auditory word recognition was studied from the end of Grade 4 to the end of Grade 9 by examining the orthographic consistency effect in auditory lexical decision. Fourth-graders showed evidence of a widespread influence of orthography in their spoken word recognition system; words with rimes that can be spelled in two different ways (inconsistent) produced longer auditory lexical decision times and more errors than did consistent words. A similar consistency effect was also observed on pseudowords. With adult listeners, on exactly the same material, we replicated the usual pattern of an orthographic consistency effect restricted to words in lexical decision. From Grade 6 onward, this adult pattern of orthographic effect on spoken recognition is already observable.     

The Role of Antibody in Korean Word Recognition

A subsyllabic phonological unit, the antibody, has received little attention as a potential fundamental processing unit in word recognition. The psychological reality of the antibody in Korean recognition was investigated by looking at the performance of subjects presented with nonwords and words in the lexical decision task. In Experiment 1, the nonwords with a high-frequency antibody were processed more slowly than those with a low-frequency antibody. Experiment 2 showed that separating the antibody unit is advantageous in processing certain types of Korean words. These results indicate that the antibody is a part of the lexical representation system and is a fundamental unit of lexical processing.     

Visual word recognition by bilinguals in a sentence context: evidence for nonselective lexical access

Recent research on bilingualism has shown that lexical access in visual word recognition by bilinguals is not selective with respect to language. In the present study, the authors investigated language-independent lexical access in bilinguals reading sentences, which constitutes a strong unilingual linguistic context. In the first experiment, Dutch-English bilinguals performing a 2nd language (L2) lexical decision task were faster to recognize identical and nonidentical cognate words (e.g., banaan-banana) presented in isolation than control words. A second experiment replicated this effect when the same set of cognates was presented as the final words of low-constraint sentences. In a third experiment that used eyetracking, the authors showed that early target reading time measures also yield cognate facilitation but only for identical cognates. These results suggest that a sentence context may influence, but does not nullify, cross-lingual lexical interactions during early visual word recognition by bilinguals.     

发展性阅读障碍儿童阅读中的眼跳定位缺陷：基于新词学习的实验证据

通过与生理年龄匹配儿童比较新词重复学习中眼跳定位模式变化的异同, 探讨发展性阅读障碍儿童在新词学习中的眼跳定位是否存在缺陷。以发展性阅读障碍儿童和生理年龄匹配儿童为被试, 采用重复学习新词范式, 结果发现：(1)与生理年龄匹配组相比, 发展性阅读障碍儿童跳入新词的眼跳距离较短、首次注视落点位置更靠近词首; (2)生理年龄匹配组儿童利用学习次数调节新词眼跳定位模式的能力高于发展性阅读障碍儿童, 即随着新词学习次数的增加, 生理年龄匹配组儿童跳入和跳出新词的眼跳距离随之增长, 首次注视落点位置更靠近词中心; 相比之下, 发展性阅读障碍儿童仅在跳出新词的眼跳距离上有所增长, 但增加幅度也显著小于生理年龄匹配组。结果表明, 发展性阅读障碍儿童在新词学习中的眼跳定位, 及利用学习次数对眼跳定位的调节上均表现出一定缺陷。     

Semantic size does not matter: "bigger" words are not recognized faster

Sereno, O'Donnell, and Sereno (2009) reported that words are recognized faster in a lexical decision task when their referents are physically large than when they are small, suggesting that "semantic size" might be an important variable that should be considered in visual word recognition research and modelling. We sought to replicate their size effect, but failed to find a significant latency advantage in lexical decision for "big" words (cf. "small" words), even though we used the same word stimuli as Sereno et al. and had almost three times as many subjects. We also examined existing data from visual word recognition megastudies (e.g., English Lexicon Project) and found that semantic size is not a significant predictor of lexical decision performance after controlling for the standard lexical variables. In summary, the null results from our lab experiment--despite a much larger subject sample size than Sereno et al.--converged with our analysis of megastudy lexical decision performance, leading us to conclude that semantic size does not matter for word recognition. Discussion focuses on why semantic size (unlike some other semantic variables) is unlikely to play a role in lexical decision.     

Does frequency trajectory influence word identification? A cross-task comparison

In a series of six experiments, the influence of frequency trajectory in visual word recognition was investigated. In Experiment 1, frequency trajectory was found to exert a strong and reliable influence on age of acquisition (AoA) ratings. In word reading (Experiment 2), lexical decision (Experiments 3 and 6), proper name decision (Experiment 4), progressive demasking (Experiment 5), and a multiple regression analysis of lexical decision times taken from the French Lexicon Project, the effect of frequency trajectory was not reliable. In contrast, in all the experiments and in the multiple regression analysis, cumulative frequency had a strong and reliable influence on word recognition times. The findings firmly establish that in alphabetic languages such as French, age-limited learning effects do not surface readily in word recognition. In contrast, the total exposure to words across the lifetime is a strong determinant of word recognition speed. The implications of the findings are discussed.     

The interaction of meaning and sound in spoken word recognition

Models of spoken word recognition vary in the ways in which they capture the relationship between speech input and meaning. Modular accounts prohibit a word’s meaning from affecting the computation of its form-based representation, whereas interactive models allow activation at the semantic level to affect phonological processing. We tested these competing hypotheses by manipulating word familiarity and imageability, using lexical decision and repetition tasks. Responses to high-imageability words were significantly faster than those to low-imageability words. Repetition latencies were also analyzed as a function of cohort variables, revealing a significant imageability effect only for words that were members of large cohorts, suggesting that when the mapping from phonology to semantics is difficult, semantic information can help the discrimination process. Thus, these data support interactive models of spoken word recognition.