How do Readers Skip a Word During Reading?

Abstract

Abstract: It is well known that our eyes move to different locations in text reading to obtain the useful information for comprehension. Eye movements in reading is not a sequence of word-to-word movements, many words are not fixated but skipped. While in reading English texts, about one third of words are skipped, whereas in reading Chinese texts, there are approximately 50% Chinese single character words skipped during Chinese reading. The reasons why words are sometimes skipped, whether these skipped words are processed, and if so, when they are processed, are not well understood. Specifically, 1) word skipping is based on complete recognition or partial "coarse" recognition of a word in the parafovea? 2) does foveal processing load influence the skipping of the upcoming word? 3) will both parafoveal and foveal processing efficiency influence word skipping in Chinese reading? And 4) the visual and linguistic information:which is more important in explaining word skipping in reading. The present study reviewed the findings from previous literature, and then put forward the future directions in this field based on the characteristics of Chinese writing system.

Key words: reading, skipping, parafoveal processing, foveal load

摘要： 在阅读过程中，读者并不会注视每一个词，而是不断地跳过很多词。在英文阅读中至少有30%的词被跳读，在中文阅读中近50%的字词被跳读。那么被跳读的字词是否得到加工，何时得到加工，是当前阅读过程中眼动控制模型关心的基本问题：具体包括（1）词跳读是基于副中央凹处词汇的完全识别还是部分识别后发生；（2）中央凹加工负荷是否影响对下一个词的跳读；（3）副中央凹和中央凹加工效率与词跳读的关系是什么；（4）较低水平的视觉信息（如词长、复杂性）和较高水平的语言信息（如词频、预测性）如何交互作用决定一个词的跳读。文章对上述问题进行系统分析，最后结合中文阅读中书写系统的特点，对未来中文阅读中词跳读研究进行了展望。

关键词: 阅读, 跳读, 副中央凹加工, 中央凹负荷

CLC Number:

B842.1

ZANG Chuanli, LU Zijia, BAI Yu, ZHANG Manman. How do Readers Skip a Word During Reading?[J]. Studies of Psychology and Behavior, 2018, 16(4): 477-483.

臧传丽, 鹿子佳, 白玉, 张慢慢. 阅读过程中的词跳读及其产生的认知机制[J]. 心理与行为研究, 2018, 16(4): 477-483.

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