Time course of linguistic information extraction from consecutive words during eye fixations in reading

Sequential attention shift models of reading predict that an attended (typically fixated) word must be recognized before useful linguistic information can be obtained from the following (parafoveal) word. These models also predict that linguistic information is obtained from a parafoveal word immediately prior to a saccade toward it. To test these assumptions, sentences were constructed with a critical pretarget-target word sequence, and the temporal availability of the (parafoveal) target preview was manipulated while the pretarget word was fixated. Target viewing effects, examined as a function of prior target visibility, revealed that extraction of linguistic target information began 70-140 ms after the onset of pretarget viewing. Critically, acquisition of useful linguistic information from a target was not confined to the ending period of pretarget viewing. These results favor theoretical conceptions in which there is some temporal overlap in the linguistic processing of a fixated and parafoveally visible word during reading.     

中文阅读中副中央凹区域文本信息加工时程的眼动研究

副中央凹文本对阅读有非常重要的作用,考察读者在注视何时起对其加工有助于解决阅读中词汇加工方式的理论问题,当前研究结果存在很大争论。本研究采用消失文本范式,操纵词n-1和n+1的呈现时间(0m/40ms),考察读者加工两侧副中央凹信息的时程。结果发现,相比0ms,在注视早期40ms内,词n+1的呈现能够显著促进阅读加工,而词n-1未对阅读产生影响,表明右侧副中央凹信息的加工发生在注视早期,而左侧则未发生在该早期阶段。结果支持阅读眼动控制的并列加工模型。     

Modulating younger and older adults’ performance in ignoring pictorial information during a word matching task

Using both behavioural and event-related potential (ERP) data, the current study sought to examine the neurophysiological underpinnings for the effect of distracting pictorial information on semantic word matching performance in younger and older adults. This was tested in the context of semantic relations between task-relevant word pairs, a task-irrelevant picture and the resultant N400 differences in ERP. Younger and older adults were shown a context word superimposed on a to-be-ignored picture, followed by a test word. Their task was to determine whether the prime and test words were semantically related. The to-be-ignored pictures were interfering (for ‘No’ trials), facilitating (for ‘Yes’ trials), or neutral (for both ‘Yes’ and ‘No’ trials) to the expected responses. The interfering and facilitatory effects of to-be-ignored pictures were assessed under more automatic and more controlled conditions by manipulating the context–test interstimulus-interval (ISI) as 50 ms and 1000 ms, respectively. The analysis of the N400 at centro-parietal sites during test word display revealed similar N400 amplitudes for the ‘No’ response trials at the two ISIs, suggesting that younger and older adults showed an equivalent effect from interfering pictures. In contrast, younger adults showed greater reductions in the N400, as compared to older adults, for ‘Yes’ trials indicating differential effects in facilitation from to-be-ignored pictorial information, but only in the long ISI condition. The data are discussed in terms of age differences in resource demanding strategy use during a semantic word matching task, specifically during controlled retrieval.     

中文阅读中预视阶段和注视阶段内词汇视觉编码的过程特点:来自消失文本的证据

研究采用消失文本范式考察中文阅读中双字词汇视觉信息编码的过程特点。实验一操控词n+1上字词消失方式及其延迟时间,结果发现,注视词n时,词n+1上不同位置的汉字及时消失(延迟时间为0 ms)都影响总阅读时间,且影响程度与消失汉字的具体位置与消失汉字的数量有关;延迟时间为60 ms时,词n+1上的左侧字消失不再影响总阅读时间,而词n+1上的右侧字消失仍会影响总阅读时间。实验二操控词n上字词消失方式及其延迟时间,结果发现,注视词n时,词n上不同位置的汉字及时消失对总阅读时间的影响程度完全一致,说明词n上汉字视觉编码不受消失汉字的具体位置与消失汉字的数量的调节;延迟时间为60 ms时,各消失条件都不影响总阅读时间,说明词n上不同汉字的视觉编码同时完成。基于两项实验结果可得出,在预视阶段内中文读者以汉字单元编码内双字词汇的视觉信息,在注视阶段内以整词为单元编码双字词汇的视觉信息。     

How preview space/time translates into preview cost/benefit for fixation durations during reading

Eye-movement control during reading depends on foveal and parafoveal information. If the parafoveal preview of the next word is suppressed, reading is less efficient. A linear mixed model (LMM) reanalysis of McDonald (2006) confirmed his observation that preview benefit may be limited to parafoveal words that have been selected as the saccade target. Going beyond the original analyses, in the same LMM, we examined how the preview effect (i.e., the difference in single-fixation duration, SFD, between random-letter and identical preview) depends on the gaze duration on the pretarget word and on the amplitude of the saccade moving the eye onto the target word. There were two key results: (a) The shorter the saccade amplitude (i.e., the larger preview space), the shorter a subsequent SFD with an identical preview; this association was not observed with a random-letter preview. (b) However, the longer the gaze duration on the pretarget word, the longer the subsequent SFD on the target, with the difference between random-letter string and identical previews increasing with preview time. A third pattern—increasing cost of a random-letter string in the parafovea associated with shorter saccade amplitudes—was observed for target gaze durations. Thus, LMMs revealed that preview effects, which are typically summarized under “preview benefit”, are a complex mixture of preview cost and preview benefit and vary with preview space and preview time. The consequence for reading is that parafoveal preview may not only facilitate, but also interfere with lexical access.     

默读和出声阅读的副中央凹预视效应

以往研究大多考察默读中是否存在副中央凹预视效应及存在何种类型的预视效应,很少有研究探讨出声阅读中的副中央凹预视效应以及阅读中预视信息提取的时间进程。本研究采用边界范式,通过两个眼动实验考察默读和出声阅读中的副中央凹预视效应及预视信息提取的时间进程。实验1发现在默读和出声阅读中都存在副中央凹预视效应,但是默读中副中央凹预视效应更大。实验2发现出声阅读中在注视中央凹词汇的早期不能提取副中央凹处信息。两个实验的结果表明默读和出声阅读条件下的副中央凹加工是不同的,需要用不同的眼动模型解释。     

词窗口条件下老年阅读者信息提取过程的眼动研究

本研究以眼动仪为工具,通过消失文本范式考察老年阅读者从视觉刺激中提取语义信息的必要呈现时间。实验一发现,老年阅读者阅读消失文本的视觉刺激必要呈现时间在120 ms以后。实验二在实验一的基础上,将消失时间设置为120 ms1、40 ms、160 ms、180 ms和200 ms。研究结果发现,老年阅读者阅读消失文本的必要延迟时间是200 ms,结果支持眼动控制理论中认知控制模型。     

Colateralization of Broca's area and the visual word form area in left-handers: fMRI evidence

Language production has been found to be lateralized in the left hemisphere (LH) for 95% of right-handed people and about 75% of left-handers. The prevalence of atypical right hemispheric (RH) or bilateral lateralization for reading and colateralization of production with word reading laterality has never been tested in a large sample. In this study, we scanned 57 left-handers who had previously been identified as being clearly left (N = 30), bilateral (N = 7) or clearly right (N = 20) dominant for speech on the basis of fMRI activity in the inferior frontal gyrus (pars opercularis/pars triangularis) during a silent word generation task. They were asked to perform a lexical decision task, in which words were contrasted against checkerboards, to test the lateralization of reading in the ventral occipitotemporal region. Lateralization indices for both tasks correlated significantly (r = 0.59). The majority of subjects showed most activity during lexical decision in the hemisphere that was identified as their word production dominant hemisphere. However, more than half of the sample (N = 31) had bilateral activity for the lexical decision task without a clear dominant role for either the LH or RH, and three showed a crossed frontotemporal lateralization pattern. These findings have consequences for neurobiological models relating phonological and orthographic processes, and for lateralization measurements for clinical purposes.     

Parafoveal preview benefits during silent and oral reading: Testing the parafoveal information extraction hypothesis

The preview of a parafoveally visible word conveys benefits when it is subsequently fixated. The current study examined whether these benefits are determined by the effectiveness of parafoveal information extraction, as implied by current models of eye movement control during reading, or by the effectiveness with which extracted information is integrated when a previewed word is fixated. For this, the boundary technique was used to manipulate the extent to which parafoveal information could be extracted, and text was read silently or orally. Consistent with prior work, a parafoveal target word preview conveyed fewer benefits when less parafoveal information could be extracted, target viewing durations were longer during oral than during silent reading, and the two factors interacted in the target fixation data, with smaller preview benefits during oral than during silent reading. Survival analyses indicated that this occurred because parafoveal information use occurred at later point in time during oral reading. Diminished opportunity for parafoveal information extraction also diminished target skipping rate, and it resulted in smaller saccades to target words, but these effects were not influenced by reading mode. Parafoveally extracted information was thus used less effectively during oral reading only when it involved the integration of parafoveally extracted information during subsequent target viewing. The dissociation of extraction from integration challenges current models of eye movement control.     

中文阅读中副中央凹语义信息的提取：来自ERPs的证据

书面语言阅读过程中, 关于读者能否提取预视词汇的语义信息, 以往的研究仍有争议。鉴于边界技术在研究该问题时具有无法严格控制预视词呈现时间等一些局限性, 近年来有研究者利用ERPs技术结合伴侧RSVP范式对拼音语言中的语义预视效应进行研究。本研究首次将这一方法应用到中文句子阅读中, 并对实验材料进行了更严格的控制, 保证关键屏(目标名词位于右侧副中央凹处)内容在实验条件间完全相同, 避免以往类似研究中关键词自身属性信息对实验结果产生干扰。ERPs数据分析发现, 在关键屏呈现后, 语义违背相比合理条件诱发了更大的N400成分, 而关键后屏(目标名词位于中央凹处)呈现后, 两种条件间的N400成分无显著差异。该结果支持中文句子阅读中预视词汇语义信息可以得到提取, 并参与随后的语义整合过程。     

The role of the right hemisphere in speech act comprehension

In this research the role of the RH in the comprehension of speech acts (or illocutionary force) was examined. Two split-screen experiments were conducted in which participants made lexical decisions for lateralized targets after reading a brief conversation remark. On one-half of the trials the target word named the speech act performed with the preceding conversation remark; on the remaining trials the target did not name the speech act that the remark performed. In both experiments, lexical decisions were facilitated for targets representing the speech act performed with the prior utterance, but only when the target was presented to the left visual field (and hence initially processed by the RH) and not when presented to the right visual field. This effect occurred at both short (Experiment 1: 250 ms) and long (Experiment 2: 1000 ms) delays. The results demonstrate the critical role played by the RH in conversation processing.     

Effects of classroom organization on letter-word reading in first grade

Teacher organization is a crucial part of classroom functioning; however, its relation to student achievement has not been investigated as extensively as that of instruction. In this study, organization is defined as the amount of time teachers spend explaining the purpose and procedures of learning activities and daily routines. Data from first-grade classrooms (N = 44) observed three times during the school year (fall, winter, and spring) are analyzed, along with students' (N = 108) literacy skills at fall and spring. Hierarchical Linear Modeling reveals that, controlling for students' fall word reading and vocabulary skills, as well as amount of language arts instruction they receive, both amount and change in amount over time in classroom organization significantly predicts spring word reading skills. Specifically, children in classrooms observed in higher amounts of classroom time in organization at the beginning of the school year, followed by sharp decreases over the school year, demonstrated stronger letter and word reading skills by spring, and this was a main effect (p < .05). Practical and research implications are discussed.     

Word learning and individual differences in word learning reflected in event-related potentials

Adults learned the meanings of rare words (e.g., gloaming) and then made meaning judgments on pairs of words. The 1st word was a trained rare word, an untrained rare word, or an untrained familiar word. Event-related potentials distinguished trained rare words from both untrained rare and familiar words, first at 140 ms and again at 400-600 ms after onset of the 1st word. These results may point to an episodic memory effect. The 2nd word produced an N400 that distinguished trained and familiar word pairs that were related in meaning from unrelated word pairs. Skilled comprehenders learned more words than less skilled comprehenders and showed a stronger episodic memory effect at 400-600 ms on the 1st word and a stronger N400 effect on the 2nd word. These results suggest that superior word learning among skilled comprehenders may arise from a stronger episodic trace that includes orthographic and meaning information and illustrate, how an episodic theory of word identification can explain reading skill.     

Assessing spelling in kindergarten: Further comparison of scoring metrics and their relation to reading skills

Early reading and spelling development share foundational skills, yet spelling assessment is underutilized in evaluating early reading. This study extended research comparing the degree to which methods for scoring spelling skills at the end of kindergarten were associated with reading skills measured at the same time as well as at the end of first grade. Five strategies for scoring spelling responses were compared: totaling the number of words spelled correctly, totaling the number of correct letter sounds, totaling the number of correct letter sequences, using a rubric for scoring invented spellings, and calculating the Spelling Sensitivity Score (Masterson & Apel, 2010b). Students (N = 287) who were identified at kindergarten entry as at risk for reading difficulty and who had received supplemental reading intervention were administered a standardized spelling assessment in the spring of kindergarten, and measures of phonological awareness, decoding, word recognition, and reading fluency were administered concurrently and at the end of first grade. The five spelling scoring metrics were similar in their strong relations with factors summarizing reading subskills (phonological awareness, decoding, and word reading) on a concurrent basis. Furthermore, when predicting first-grade reading skills based on spring-of-kindergarten performance, spelling scores from all five metrics explained unique variance over the autoregressive effects of kindergarten word identification. The practical advantages of using a brief spelling assessment for early reading evaluation and the relative tradeoffs of each scoring metric are discussed.     

Unintended embodiment of concepts into percepts: Sensory activation boosts attention for same-modality concepts in the attentional blink paradigm

This study shows that sensory priming facilitates reports of same-modality concepts in an attentional blink paradigm. Participants had to detect and report two target words (T1 and T2) presented for 53 ms each among a series of nonwords distractors at a frequency of up to 19 items per second. SOA between target words was set to 53 ms or 213 ms, with reduced attention expected for T2 under the longer SOA (attentional blink) and for T1 under the shorter SOA (lag-1 sparing). These effects were found but reduced when the sensory modality of the concepts matched that of a sensory stimulation occurring prior to the detection trial. Hence, sensory activation increased report for same-modality concepts. This finding reveals that grounded cognition effects (1) are involved in conceptual processing as soon as a word has reached the point of lexical identification and (2) occur independent of intentional access to sensory properties of concepts.     

副中央凹中字N+2的预视对汉语阅读眼跳目标选择影响的眼动研究

采用边界范式, 在副中央凹呈现一个双字词或两个单字词, 操纵字N+2的预视(目标预视和假字预视), 来考察副中央凹中词汇特征是否影响读者随后的眼跳长度及注视位置。结果发现, 读者能够获得字N+2的预视; 双字词与两个单字词条件下注视位置没有显著地差异; 当副中央凹中为双字词时, 字N+2为目标预视时随后的眼跳长度显著地长于假字预视条件, 随后的注视位置距离词首更远; 当副中央凹中为两个单字词时, 两种预视条件下随后的眼跳长度及注视位置没有显著的差异。本研究结果提示：在汉语阅读中, 读者能够对字N+2进行预视加工, 这种加工的影响只发生在当副中央凹中为双字词时。     

Task choice and semantic interference in picture naming

Evidence from dual-task performance indicates that speakers prefer not to select simultaneous responses in picture naming and another unrelated task, suggesting a response selection bottleneck in naming. In particular, when participants respond to tones with a manual response and name pictures with superimposed semantically related or unrelated distractor words, semantic interference in naming tends to be constant across stimulus onset asynchronies (SOAs) between the tone stimulus and the picture–word stimulus. In the present study, we examine whether semantic interference in picture naming depends on SOA in case of a task choice (naming the picture vs reading the word of a picture–word stimulus) based on tones. This situation requires concurrent processing of the tone stimulus and the picture–word stimulus, but not a manual response to the tones. On each trial, participants either named a picture or read aloud a word depending on the pitch of a tone, which was presented simultaneously with picture–word onset or 350 ms or 1000 ms before picture–word onset. Semantic interference was present with tone pre-exposure, but absent when tone and picture-word stimulus were presented simultaneously. Against the background of the available studies, these results support an account according to which speakers tend to avoid concurrent response selection, but can engage in other types of concurrent processing, such as task choices.     

Age and schooling effects on early literacy and phoneme awareness

Previous research on age and schooling effects is largely restricted to studies of children who begin formal schooling at 6 years of age, and the measures of phoneme awareness used have typically lacked sensitivity for beginning readers. Our study addresses these issues by testing 4 to 6 year-olds (first 2 years of formal schooling in the United Kingdom) on a sensitive dynamic measure of phoneme awareness and tests of early literacy. There were significant effects of both age and schooling on the dynamic measure of phoneme awareness, word reading, spelling, and letter name knowledge, but there were no significant Age × Time interactions. This indicates that older children within this age group generally outperform their younger classmates (although they do not make faster progress) and that this advantage is developed prior to the start of school.     

Word frequency in fast priming: Evidence for immediate cognitive control of eye movements during reading

Numerous studies have demonstrated effects of word frequency on eye movements during reading, but the precise timing of this influence has remained unclear. The fast priming paradigm was previously used to study influences of related versus unrelated primes on the target word. Here, we use this procedure to investigate whether the frequency of the prime word has a direct influence on eye movements during reading when the prime–target relation is not manipulated. We found that with average prime intervals of 32 ms readers made longer single fixation durations on the target word in the low than in the high frequency prime condition. Distributional analyses demonstrated that the effect of prime frequency on single fixation durations occurred very early, supporting theories of immediate cognitive control of eye movements. Finding prime frequency effects only 207 ms after visibility of the prime and for prime durations of 32 ms yields new time constraints for cognitive processes controlling eye movements during reading. Our variant of the fast priming paradigm provides a new approach to test early influences of word processing on eye movement control during reading.     

Time-driven effects on parsing during reading

The phonological trace of perceived words starts fading away in short-term memory after a few seconds. Spoken utterances are usually 2-3 s long, possibly to allow the listener to parse the words into coherent prosodic phrases while they still have a clear representation. Results from this brain potential study suggest that even during silent reading, words are organized into 2-3 s long ‘implicit’ prosodic phrases. Participants read the same sentences word by word at different presentation rates. Clause-final words occurring at multiples of 2-3 s from sentence onset yielded increased positivity, irrespective of presentation rate. The effect was interpreted as a closure positive shift (CPS), reflecting insertion of implicit prosodic phrase boundaries every 2-3 s. Additionally, in participants with low working memory span, clauses over 3 s long produced a negativity, possibly indicating increased working memory load.