A Web-accessible database of characteristics of the 1,945 basic Japanese kanji

In 1981, the Japanese government published a list of the 1,945 basic Japanese kanji (Jooyoo Kanjihyo), including specifications of pronunciation. This list was established as the standard for kanji usage in print. The database for 1,945 basic Japanese kanji provides 30 cells that explain in detail the various characteristics of kanji. Means, standard deviations, distributions, and information related to previous research concerning these kanji are provided in this paper. The database is saved as a Microsoft Excel 2000 file for Windows. This kanji database is accessible on the Web site of the Oxford Text Archive, Oxford University (http://ota.ahds.ac.uk). Using this database, researchers and educators will be able to conduct planned experiments and organize classroom instruction on the basis of the known characteristics of selected kanji.     

Visual span of detection and recognition of a kanji character embedded in a horizontal row of random hiragana characters

Two experiments were conducted to determine the visual span of detection and recognition of the kanji character embedded in a horizontal row of random hiragana characters. An independent variable was the visual complexity of the kanji characters: simple and complex. In Experiment 1, visual spans of detection were determined by a staircase method. Values of visual spans were more than 15 character spaces for the complex kanji characters, and ranged from 4 to 10 character spaces (mean 7.6) for the simple kanji characters. In Experiment 2, visual spans of recognition were determined by an ascending series of limits method. Values of visual spans ranged from 0 to 4 character spaces (mean 2.3) for the complex kanji characters and from 3 to 7 character spaces (mean 4.8) for the simple kanji characters. These results are discussed in relation to reading of Japanese kanji-kana mixed texts.     

The effect of number of kanji radical companions in character activation with a multi-radical-display task

The majority of Japanese complex kanji consist of two subword units (radicals), and each radical is differentiated according to its combinability. Radical-type frequency is defined as the number of radical companions (NC) functioning as the number of characters containing that radical. The current study is intended to address the question of whether the NC plays a role in kanji character activation under a multi-radical-display (MRD) instead of a tachistoscopic display. An MRD task was used in which the NC was manipulated and the frequency of use of the whole characters was matched on average across the experimental conditions. Participants were divided into two groups (good knowledge vs poor knowledge) according to the score of a kanji completion task. The participants' task was to select an appropriate combination of radicals to compose a legitimate character under the MRD condition. The poor-knowledge group yielded relatively more errors than did the good-knowledge group in the low-NC condition, whereas the good-knowledge group yielded more errors in the high-NC condition than in the low-NC condition. These results demonstrate the different influences of NC as metaknowledge (tacit knowledge of radical productivity) in both good and poor readers.     

Segmentation and Selection of Appropriate Chinese Characters in Writing Place Names in Japanese

This paper explores the relation between an unknown place name written in hiragana (a Japanese syllabary) and its corresponding written representation in kanji (Chinese characters). We propose three principles as those operating in the selection of the appropriate Chinese characters in writing unknown place names. The three principles are concerned with the combination of on and kun readings (zyuubako-yomi), the number of segmentations, and the bimoraicity characteristics of kanji chosen. We performed two experiments to test the principles; the results supported our hypotheses. These results have some implications for the structure of the Japanese mental lexicon, for the processing load in the use of Chinese characters, and for Japanese prosody and morphology.     

Effectiveness of the Visual–Auditory Shadowing Method on Learning the Pronunciation of Kanji

This study investigates whether the visual–auditory (VA) shadowing method can better facilitate vocabulary learning for learners of Japanese as a second language (JSL) than the visual–visual (VV) shadowing method in K-8 immersion education. Learning vocabulary involves three aspects: meaning, orthography, and pronunciation. The Japanese language has complex orthography and pronunciation. Learners of Japanese need to learn three kinds of orthographic characters: ideographs (kanji) and two kinds of syllabic characters (hiragana and katakana). In addition, because the pronunciation of kanji can vary by context, learners must learn several pronunciations for a single kanji character. This study explores a reasonable way to learn pronunciations of kanji and compares VA shadowing (n = 48) and VV shadowing (n = 47) to investigate which condition better facilitates learning the pronunciation of Japanese ideographs. The analysis suggests that compared to the VV shadowing condition (p < .05), the VA shadowing condition is more effective for Level 3 learners but not for Level 2 or Level 1 learners.     

Absence of perceptual segmentation in image generation by normals

We used kanji characters (Chinese ideographic characters) and hiragana characters (Japanese phonographic characters) in the transfer‐appropriate processing paradigm to examine whether or not people without brain damage conduct perceptual segmentation while generating a visual mental image. Ninety‐six participants were divided into three study conditions: (a) seeing hiragana characters and generating a mental image of the corresponding kanji characters; (b) seeing the kanji characters; and (c) seeing the hiragana characters without generating the image of the kanji characters. Generating an image of a kanji character did not transfer at test to the decision as to whether the visually presented kanji character was vertically segmented or not, whereas it did transfer to a semantic decision as to whether the kanji character had a concrete or abstract meaning. Seeing a kanji character transferred to both decisions. Seeing hiragana characters without generating an image of the kanji characters transferred to neither decision. These results suggest that perceptual segmentation is not routinely conducted by normals in the process of image generation.     

Effect of memory set-size upon event related potentials for concrete and abstract kanji stimuli.

Event related potentials (ERP) and reaction times (RT) were recorded during the performance of memory-retrieval tasks using the Japanese kanji characters. P300 latency and RT increased as the memory set-size increased. The slope differences between RT and P300 latency were larger for stimuli when concrete kanji were used than when abstract kanji were used. This suggests that, in memory search, the 20 subjects were likely to employ direct lexical access when processing concrete kanji and likely to use phonetic coding when processing abstract kanji.     

Biases and regularities of grapheme–colour associations in Japanese nonsynaesthetic population

Associations between graphemes and colours in a nonsynaesthetic Japanese population were investigated. Participants chose the most suitable colour from 11 basic colour terms for each of 40 graphemes from the four categories of graphemes used in the Japanese language (kana characters, English alphabet letters, and Arabic and kanji numerals). This test was repeated after a three-week interval. In their responses, which were not as temporally consistent as those of grapheme–colour synaesthetes, participants showed biases and regularities that were comparable to those of synaesthetes reported in past studies. Although it has been believed that only synaesthetes, and not nonsynaesthetes, tended to associate graphemes with colours based on grapheme frequency, Berlin and Kay's colour typology, and colour word frequency, participants in this study tended in part to associate graphemes with colours based on the above factors. Moreover, participants that were nonsynaesthetes tended to associate different graphemes that shared sounds and/or meanings (e.g., Arabic and kanji numerals representing the same number) with the same colours, which was analogous to the findings in Japanese synaesthetes. These results support the view that grapheme–colour synaesthesia might have its origins in cross-modal association processes that are shared with the general population.     

词频、易接近性和词表序列成分对近因效应影响的实验研究

本研究目的探讨词频、易接近性和词表序列成分对近因效应的影响及其原因。两个实验以不同词频和不同易接近性的中文词为材料,运用直接自由回忆程序和操纵词表的组成成分,探讨近因效应的特点。实验结果表明：词频对近因效应的作用受词表序列成分的影响,对于纯的词表,高频词回忆的比例比低频词更高,对于混合词表,低频词回忆的比例比高频词更高,但是词的易接近性不影响近因效应且不受词表序列成分影响。文章最后对近因效应的性质进行了讨论。     

The homophone effect in semantic access tasks using kanji words: its relation to the articulatory suppression effect

The present study examined whether articulatory suppression influences homophone effects in semantic access tasks using Japanese kanji words. In Experiment 1, participants were required to decide whether visually presented word pairs were synonyms. This experiment replicated the homophone effect observed in previous research that showed more false positive errors in response to nonsynonym homophone pairs than to controls. The present study found that this homophone effect was also obtained under an articulatory suppression condition. In Experiment 2, participants performed a semantic decision task, in which they had to judge whether a visually presented target word was an exemplar of a definition that was shown immediately before presentation of the target word. The homophone effect observed in previous studies was replicated--that is, longer response times and more false positive errors were associated with homophones of correct exemplars than with nonhomophone control words. This homophone effect was also obtained under an articulatory suppression conditions. These results suggest that the phonological processing that produces the homophone effects in semantic access tasks using Japanese kanji words does not include articulatory mechanisms.     

The homophone effect in semantic access tasks using kanji words: Its relation to the articulatory suppression effect

The present study examined whether articulatory suppression influences homophone effects in semantic access tasks using Japanese kanji words. In Experiment 1, participants were required to decide whether visually presented word pairs were synonyms. This experiment replicated the homophone effect observed in previous research that showed more false positive errors in response to nonsynonym homophone pairs than to controls. The present study found that this homophone effect was also obtained under an articulatory suppression condition. In Experiment 2, participants performed a semantic decision task, in which they had to judge whether a visually presented target word was an exemplar of a definition that was shown immediately before presentation of the target word. The homophone effect observed in previous studies was replicated—that is, longer response times and more false positive errors were associated with homophones of correct exemplars than with nonhomophone control words. This homophone effect was also obtained under an articulatory suppression conditions. These results suggest that the phonological processing that produces the homophone effects in semantic access tasks using Japanese kanji words does not include articulatory mechanisms.     

DEVELOPMENTAL CHANGE IN COGNITIVE ORGANIZATION UNDERLYING STROOP TASKS OF JAPANESE ORTHOGRAPHIES

Cognitive processes underlying Stroop interference tasks of two Japanese orthographies, hiragana (a phonetic orthography) and kanji (a logographic orthography) were studied from the developmental point of view. Four age groups (first, second, third graders, and university students) were employed as subjects. Significant interference was yielded both in the hiragana and in the kanji version. Performance time on interference task decreased with age. For elementary school children, the error frequency on the interference task was higher than that on the task of naming patch colors or on the task of reading words printed in black ink, but the error frequencies did not differ among tasks for university students. In the interference task more word reading errors were yielded in the kanji version than in the hiragana version during and after third grade. The findings suggested that (1) the recognition system of hiragana and of kanji becomes qualitatively different during and after third grade, (2) the integrative system, which organizes cognitive processes underlying Stroop task, develops with age, and (3) efficiency of the organization increases with age.     

Conditional recall and the frequency effect in the serial recall task: an examination of item-to-item associativity

The frequency effect in short-term serial recall is influenced by the composition of lists. In pure lists, a robust advantage in the recall of high-frequency (HF) words is observed, yet in alternating mixed lists, HF and low-frequency (LF) words are recalled equally well. It has been argued that the preexisting associations between all list items determine a single, global level of supportive activation that assists item recall. Preexisting associations between items are assumed to be a function of language co-occurrence; HF?CHF associations are high, LF?CLF associations are low, and mixed associations are intermediate in activation strength. This account, however, is based on results when alternating lists with equal numbers of HF and LF words were used. It is possible that directional association between adjacent list items is responsible for the recall patterns reported. In the present experiment, the recall of three forms of mixed lists??those with equal numbers of HF and LF items and pure lists??was examined to test the extent to which item-to-item associations are present in serial recall. Furthermore, conditional probabilities were used to examine more closely the evidence for a contribution, since correct-in-position scoring may mask recall that is dependent on the recall of prior items. The results suggest that an item-to-item effect is clearly present for early but not late list items, and they implicate an additional factor, perhaps the availability of resources at output, in the recall of late list items.     

The influence of word frequency on recency effects in directed free recall

Leading theoretical explanations of recency effects are designed to explain the reported absence of a word frequency effect on recall of words from recency serial positions. The present study used a directed free-recall procedure (J. J. Dalezman, 1976) and manipulated the frequency composition of the word lists (pure and mixed). Overall, with pure lists, a greater proportion of high-frequency (HF) words were recalled than low-frequency (LF) words, and with mixed lists, a greater proportion of LF words were recalled than HF words. Of importance, this recall advantage for one frequency over the other as a function of list composition was evident across the last three serial positions, indicating an influence of word frequency on recency effects that is dependent on the frequency composition of the lists. These results challenge one of the major assumptions on which several theories of recency effects have been based.