The Role of the First Character Frequency in Low-Frequency Two-Character Words in Parafoveal Processing in Chinese Reading

  • WANG Yongsheng ,
  • HE Liyuan ,
  • LI Xin ,
  • BAI Xuejun
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  • Key Research Base of Humanities and Social Sciences of the Ministry of Education, Academy of Psychology and Behavior, Faculty of Psychology, Tianjin Social Science Laboratory of Students’ Mental Development and Learning, Tianjin Normal University, Tianjin 300387

Received date: 2021-10-20

  Online published: 2022-05-20

Abstract

To investigate the effect of processing load on character frequency during parafoveal processing, we selected low-frequency two-character words with different frequencies as parafoveal target words. At the same time, the boundary paradigm was used to manipulate the preview types of the first character in target word (identical preview vs. pseudo-character preview). An eye tracker was used to record eye movements of the participants during reading. A significant preview effect was found on both the first characters and the whole words of the target words. Participants spent shorter fixation time on target words when the first character of the target word was unmasked compared to that masked by pseudo-character. The main effect of character frequency on the gaze duration and total fixation time of target words was significant, and the gaze duration and total fixation time of low-frequency characters were significantly longer than that of high-frequency characters. However, there was no interaction between the two. The results showed that the preview effect is not influenced by the character frequency of the low-frequency two-character word, but the recognition of the low frequency word is affected by the frequency of the first character.

Cite this article

WANG Yongsheng , HE Liyuan , LI Xin , BAI Xuejun . The Role of the First Character Frequency in Low-Frequency Two-Character Words in Parafoveal Processing in Chinese Reading[J]. Studies of Psychology and Behavior, 2022 , 20(3) : 311 -317 . DOI: 10.12139/j.1672-0628.2022.03.004

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