Word Frequency Effects in Fast and Slow Readers During Skilled Chinese Reading

doi:10.12139/j.1672-0628.2022.03.003

Abstract

Abstract: Research on alphabetic language reading has shown that highly skilled readers were more efficient at lexical processing than less skilled readers. However, it remains unclear whether lexical processing shows different patterns between fast readers and slow readers during skilled Chinese reading. The current study aimed to examine this issue by comparing the word frequency effects in fast and slow readers. Fifteen groups of fast and slow readers were selected from a total number of 67 participants based on their reading rates. Each participant was required to read sentences containing either high- or low- frequent target words while their eye movements were recorded by an EyeLink1000 Plus eye tracker. The results showed robust word frequency effect and reading group effect. Importantly, word frequency effect was modulated by reading group such that the word frequency effect was only reliable in slow readers rather than in fast readers. In conclusion, lexical processing in fast readers is highly efficient and is less influenced by word frequency than that in slow readers, indicating that individual differences in skilled Chinese readers are associated with “type” rather than “degree”. This finding provides strong evidence for lexical quality hypothesis and the linguistic-pro?ciency hypothesis in the E-Z Reader model.

Key words: reading speed, word frequency effect, Chinese reading, eye movement

摘要： 在熟练的中文阅读中，个体阅读效率越高，词汇加工效率是否越高，目前还缺少直接证据。本研究通过记录快速读者与慢速读者在阅读含有高频或低频目标词句子时的眼动轨迹来考察该问题。结果发现，在第一遍注视时间、回视路径时间和总注视时间上，快速读者对高频词与低频词的注视时间无显著差异，但都短于慢速读者；而慢速读者对低频词的注视时间显著长于高频词。即快速读者的早期词汇识别和后期词汇整合效率都较高，不受词频影响；而慢速读者的整个词汇加工效率较低，受词频影响较大。这些结果表明两组读者的词汇加工模式具有本质差异，符合个体差异性观点与词汇质量假说。

关键词: 阅读速度, 词频效应, 中文阅读, 眼动

CLC Number:

B842

ZHANG Manman, HU Huilan, BIAN Han, LI Fang, ZHANG Zhichao, ZANG Chuanli. Word Frequency Effects in Fast and Slow Readers During Skilled Chinese Reading[J]. Studies of Psychology and Behavior, 2022, 20(3): 304-310.

张慢慢, 胡惠兰, 边菡, 李芳, 张志超, 臧传丽. 中文阅读中快速读者与慢速读者的词频效应[J]. 心理与行为研究, 2022, 20(3): 304-310.

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