Processing of compound-word characters in reading Chinese: An eye-movement-contingent display change study

Readers’ eye movements were monitored as they read Chinese two-constituent compound words in sentence contexts. The first compound-word constituent was either an infrequent character with a highly predictable second constituent or a frequent character with an unpredictable second constituent. The parafoveal preview of the second constituent was manipulated, with four preview conditions: identical to the correct form; a semantically related character to the second constituent; a semantically unrelated character to the second constituent; and a pseudocharacter. An invisible boundary was set between the two constituents; when the eyes moved across the boundary, the previewed character was changed to its intended form. The main findings were that preview effects occurred for the second constituent of the compound word. Providing an incorrect preview of the second constituent affected fixations on the first constituent, but only when the second constituent was predictable from the first. The frequency of the initial character of the compound constrained the identity of the second character, and this in turn modulated the extent to which the semantic characteristics of the preview influenced processing of the second constituent and the compound word as a whole. The results are considered in relation to current accounts of Chinese compound-word recognition and the constraint hypothesis of Hyönä, Bertram, and Pollatsek (2004 Hyönä, J., Bertram, R. and Pollatsek, A. 2004. Are long compound words identified serially via their constituents? Evidence from an eye-movement-contingent display change study. Memory & Cognition, 32: 523–532. (doi:10.3758/BF03195844)[Crossref], [PubMed], [Web of Science ®] , [Google Scholar]). We conclude that word identification in Chinese is flexible, and parafoveal processing of upcoming characters is influenced both by the characteristics of the fixated character and by its relationship with the characters in the parafovea.     

A general-purpose computer system for behavioral conditioning and neural recording experiments

A computer system designed to control the delivery of stimuli and data acquisition during behavioral conditioning and neural recording experiments is described. This IBM-PC-compatible system is programmed in C++ and is capable of controlling stimulus presentations to four independently operating conditioning chambers while collecting one channel of analog and two channels of digital data from each of the chambers. This system is currently being used in a variety of learning and memory experiments involving rats, rabbits, and humans.     

Analogy in a general-purpose reasoning system

This paper introduces the various forms of analogy in NARS, a general-purpose reasoning system. NARS is an AI system designed to be adaptive and to work with insufficient knowledge and resources. In the system, multiple types of inference, including analogy, deduction, induction, abduction, comparison, and revision, are unified both in syntax and in semantics. The system can also carry out relational and structural analogy, in ways comparable to (though different from) that in some other models of analogy, such as Copycat and SME. The paper addresses several theoretical issues in the study of analogy, including the specification and justification of analogy, the context sensitivity of analogy, as well as the role analogy plays in intelligence and cognition.     

A general-purpose microcomputer configuration for controlling experiments

The circuitry required for connecting a KIM-1 microcomputer to devices in the experimental environment is shown together with an example of programming the microcomputer to control such devices. The experimental example involves sensory preconditioning of the nictitating membrane of the rabbit.     

Controlling experiments with a general-purpose time-sharing system

For many experiments in the behavioral and biomedical sciences, there is no substitute for an experimental-control computer with true real-time capabilities. However, if an experimenter can tolerate timing errors of several seconds, then he can reap the benefits of computer control by buying time on a general-purpose time-sharing system. There can be little doubt that a self-contained computer-controlled laboratory will be more economical if a fair number of experiments are contemplated. But when only a few experiments are planned, the researcher may find that he can run them with a general-purpose time-sharing system at only a fraction of the cost of establishing a     

A general-purpose facility for adaptive testing in psychoacoustics

We describe a general-purpose, programmable system that provides high-quality, low-cost devices for experimentation in psychoacoustics and speech perception. The system is controlled by a host computer (e.g., an IBM PC), over a serial line. Through the use of a high-level, general-purpose experiment control program, the designed interconnection of devices can be specified logically, and the settings of the devices modified dynamically, during the experiment.     

A vector graphic CRT display system

A vector graphic CRT display system for research in visual information processing is described. The vector graphic processor includes a 4K-byte display memory. The processor communicates with the controlling computer via a serial channel. The system is capable of exposure durations below 1 msec, and it allows on-line generation and modification of display files during an experiment. Brightness can be controlled separately for each vector of a picture. A graphic display editor in FORTRAN IV for interactive editing and debugging of display files has been developed.     

A pseudoperceptual display system for investigating human statistical decision processes

A CRO display system is described in which a random sequence of dots appears on the CRO derived from a Gaussian distribution with a specified mean and standard deviation. Os are required to make judgments about the statistical parameters of the distributions.     

A visual display system for reading and visual perception research

The selection of a computer visual display system suitable for word recognition and reading research is described. The software character generation routines permit flexible definition of character sets. The display software permits control of size scaling and point density of characters being displayed as well as control over the temporal microstructure of presenting and refreshing the displayed text.     

EMDISP: A visual display system with digital and analogue sampling

EMDISP provides general-purpose assembly language routines that can be called from higher level languages to produce specific application programs for experiments involving visual displays, manual responses, and analogue sampling (e.g., eye movement recording). The display system assumes the use of fast-phosphor oscilloscopes driven by 12-bit digital-to-analogue converters (DACs) to produce point-by-point displays. Within these limitations, EMDISP offers a flexible and efficient method of generating displays, in which elements of a complex display are defined as separate “pictures” and are controlled independently. High-level control of digital and analogue sampling are provided, enabling interactions between the contents of the display and analogue and digital inputs.     

Memory recall in a process control system: a measure of expertise and display effectiveness

Previous research has shown that memory-recall performance is correlated with domain expertise. In this study, a process control system was selected as a vehicle for conducting research on memory recall. The primary purposes of the present work were to determine if the classic expertise effects originally obtained in chess generalize to this novel domain and to evaluate the validity of memory recall as a measure of display effectiveness. Experts and novices viewed dynamic event sequences showing the behavior of a thermal-hydraulic system with two different displays, one that only contained information about the physical components in the system (P) and another that also contained information about higher order functional variables (P+F). There were three types of trials: normal, where the system was operating correctly; fault, where a single fault was introduced; and random, where the system's behavior did not obey physical laws. On each trial, subjects were asked to recall the final state of the system and to diagnose the system state. The P+F display resulted in superior diagnosis performance compared with the P display. With regard to memory, there was some evidence of an interaction between trial type and expertise, with experts outperforming novices but primarily on meaningful trials. In addition, memory for the subset of variables most critical to diagnosis was better with the P+F display than with the P display, thereby indicating that memory recall can be a sensitive measure of display effectiveness. The results also clarify a theoretical problem that has existed for some time in the literature, namely, the conditions under which expertise advantages are to be expected in memory-recall tasks. Collectively, these findings point to the potential benefits of adopting an applied context as a test bed for basic research issues.     

Luminance control of a small computer CRT display: A very cheap technique

An inexpensive way to produce continuous variation in the luminance of a computer-controlled CRT display is described. One application of that system to the study of motion-analyzers in human vision is discussed briefly.     

A computer assisted system for the extraction and visual display of pitch

The fundamental frequency of the vocal output is obtained from an accelerometer output by an adaptive filtering technique. This is converted to a voltage analogue of frequency via software on a standard PDP-8/E computer. Pitch values are either output directly or stored for subsequent display. Software is available for permanent storage and access of recorded data from backing store.