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Li XW, Li S, Gao L, Niu ZB, Wang DH, Zeng M, Li TZ, Bai XJ, Gao XL. Eye Movement Control in Tibetan Reading: The Roles of Word Length and Frequency. Brain Sci 2022; 12:brainsci12091205. [PMID: 36138941 PMCID: PMC9496845 DOI: 10.3390/brainsci12091205] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/27/2022] [Revised: 08/24/2022] [Accepted: 09/05/2022] [Indexed: 11/16/2022] Open
Abstract
We investigated the effects of word length and frequency on eye movement control during Tibetan reading through two experiments. A preliminary experiment examined the predictive effect of word length and frequency on fixation duration and landing position using multiple linear regression analysis. In the formal experiment, we manipulated the length and frequency of target words simultaneously to investigate the effects of word length and frequency on fixation duration and landing position in Tibetan reading. In this study, we found that: (1) there were significant word-length and word-frequency effects affecting all lexical processing in Tibetan reading; (2) there are preferred viewing locations in Tibetan reading; specifically, for short words, it is the end, whereas for long words, it spans from the center to the beginning of the word; (3) word frequency does not affect preferred viewing location in Tibetan reading; (4) the preferred viewing position and the interaction of word length and viewing position found in this study supported the “strategy-tactics” approach.
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Affiliation(s)
- Xiao-Wei Li
- Plateau Brain Science Research Center, Tibet University, Lhasa 850000, China
- Education Department, Lhasa Normal College, Lhasa 850007, China
| | - Shan Li
- Plateau Brain Science Research Center, Tibet University, Lhasa 850000, China
| | - Lei Gao
- Plateau Brain Science Research Center, Tibet University, Lhasa 850000, China
| | - Zi-Bei Niu
- Plateau Brain Science Research Center, Tibet University, Lhasa 850000, China
| | - Dan-Hui Wang
- Plateau Brain Science Research Center, Tibet University, Lhasa 850000, China
| | - Man Zeng
- Plateau Brain Science Research Center, Tibet University, Lhasa 850000, China
| | - Tian-Zhi Li
- Plateau Brain Science Research Center, Tibet University, Lhasa 850000, China
| | - Xue-Jun Bai
- Key Research Base of Humanities and Social Sciences, Institute of Psychology and Behavior, Tianjin Normal University, Tianjin 300000, China
| | - Xiao-Lei Gao
- Plateau Brain Science Research Center, Tibet University, Lhasa 850000, China
- Correspondence:
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Zhao S, Li L, Chang M, Wang J, Paterson KB. A further look at ageing and word predictability effects in Chinese reading: Evidence from one-character words. Q J Exp Psychol (Hove) 2020; 74:68-76. [PMID: 32749198 PMCID: PMC7745612 DOI: 10.1177/1747021820951131] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/25/2022]
Abstract
Older adults are thought to compensate for slower lexical processing by making greater use of contextual knowledge, relative to young adults, to predict words in sentences. Accordingly, compared to young adults, older adults should produce larger contextual predictability effects in reading times and skipping rates for words. Empirical support for this account is nevertheless scarce. Perhaps the clearest evidence to date comes from a recent Chinese study showing larger word predictability effects for older adults in reading times but not skipping rates for two-character words. However, one possibility is that the absence of a word-skipping effect in this experiment was due to the older readers skipping words infrequently because of difficulty processing two-character words parafoveally. We therefore took a further look at this issue, using one-character target words to boost word-skipping. Young (18–30 years) and older (65+ years) adults read sentences containing a target word that was either highly predictable or less predictable from the prior sentence context. Our results replicate the finding that older adults produce larger word predictability effects in reading times but not word-skipping, despite high skipping rates. We discuss these findings in relation to ageing effects on reading in different writing systems.
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Affiliation(s)
- Sainan Zhao
- Academy of Psychology and Behavior, Faculty of Psychology, Tianjin Normal University, Tianjin, China
| | - Lin Li
- Academy of Psychology and Behavior, Faculty of Psychology, Tianjin Normal University, Tianjin, China
| | - Min Chang
- Academy of Psychology and Behavior, Faculty of Psychology, Tianjin Normal University, Tianjin, China
| | - Jingxin Wang
- Academy of Psychology and Behavior, Faculty of Psychology, Tianjin Normal University, Tianjin, China
| | - Kevin B Paterson
- Department of Neuroscience, Psychology and Behavior, University of Leicester, Leicester, UK
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Liu Z, Tong W, Su Y. Interaction effects of aging, word frequency, and predictability on saccade length in Chinese reading. PeerJ 2020; 8:e8860. [PMID: 32274270 PMCID: PMC7127474 DOI: 10.7717/peerj.8860] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/29/2019] [Accepted: 03/05/2020] [Indexed: 11/20/2022] Open
Abstract
BACKGROUND It was well known that age has an impact on word processing (word frequency or predictability) in terms of fixating time during reading. However, little is known about whether or not age modulates these impacts on saccade behaviors in Chinese reading (i.e., length of incoming/outgoing saccades for a target word). METHODS Age groups, predictability, and frequency of target words were manipulated in the present study. A larger frequency effect on lexical accessing (i.e., gaze duration) and on context integration (i.e., go-past time, total reading time), as well as larger predictability effects on data of raw total reading time, were observed in older readers when compared with their young counterparts. RESULTS Effect of predictability and frequency on word skipping and re-fixating rate did not differ across the two age groups. Notably, reliable interaction effects of age, along with word predictability and/or frequency, on the length of the first incoming/outgoing saccade for a target word were also observed. DISCUSSION Our findings suggest that the word processing function of older Chinese readers in terms of saccade targeting declines with age.
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Affiliation(s)
- Zhifang Liu
- Department of Psychology, Hangzhou Normal University, Hang Zhou, China
| | - Wen Tong
- Department of Psychology, Shanxi Normal University, Lin Fen, China
| | - Yongqiang Su
- Department of Psychology, Beijing Normal University, Bei Jing, China
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Paterson KB, McGowan VA, Warrington KL, Li L, Li S, Xie F, Chang M, Zhao S, Pagán A, White SJ, Wang J. Effects of Normative Aging on Eye Movements during Reading. Vision (Basel) 2020; 4:vision4010007. [PMID: 31947552 PMCID: PMC7157620 DOI: 10.3390/vision4010007] [Citation(s) in RCA: 7] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/07/2019] [Revised: 01/06/2020] [Accepted: 01/07/2020] [Indexed: 11/16/2022] Open
Abstract
Substantial progress has been made in understanding the mostly detrimental effects of normative aging on eye movements during reading. This article provides a review of research on aging effects on eye movements during reading for different writing systems (i.e., alphabetic systems like English compared to non-alphabetic systems like Chinese), focused on appraising the importance of visual and cognitive factors, considering key methodological issues, and identifying vital questions that need to be addressed and topics for further investigation.
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Affiliation(s)
- Kevin B. Paterson
- Department of Neuroscience, Psychology and Behaviour, University of Leicester, Leicester LE1 7RH, UK; (V.A.M.); (K.L.W.); (A.P.); (S.J.W.)
- Correspondence:
| | - Victoria A. McGowan
- Department of Neuroscience, Psychology and Behaviour, University of Leicester, Leicester LE1 7RH, UK; (V.A.M.); (K.L.W.); (A.P.); (S.J.W.)
| | - Kayleigh L. Warrington
- Department of Neuroscience, Psychology and Behaviour, University of Leicester, Leicester LE1 7RH, UK; (V.A.M.); (K.L.W.); (A.P.); (S.J.W.)
| | - Lin Li
- Faculty of Psychology, Tianjin Normal University, Tianjin 300387, China; (L.L.); (F.X.); (M.C.); (S.Z.); (J.W.)
| | - Sha Li
- School of Psychology, Fujian Normal University, Fuzhou 350117, China;
| | - Fang Xie
- Faculty of Psychology, Tianjin Normal University, Tianjin 300387, China; (L.L.); (F.X.); (M.C.); (S.Z.); (J.W.)
| | - Min Chang
- Faculty of Psychology, Tianjin Normal University, Tianjin 300387, China; (L.L.); (F.X.); (M.C.); (S.Z.); (J.W.)
| | - Sainan Zhao
- Faculty of Psychology, Tianjin Normal University, Tianjin 300387, China; (L.L.); (F.X.); (M.C.); (S.Z.); (J.W.)
| | - Ascensión Pagán
- Department of Neuroscience, Psychology and Behaviour, University of Leicester, Leicester LE1 7RH, UK; (V.A.M.); (K.L.W.); (A.P.); (S.J.W.)
| | - Sarah J. White
- Department of Neuroscience, Psychology and Behaviour, University of Leicester, Leicester LE1 7RH, UK; (V.A.M.); (K.L.W.); (A.P.); (S.J.W.)
| | - Jingxin Wang
- Faculty of Psychology, Tianjin Normal University, Tianjin 300387, China; (L.L.); (F.X.); (M.C.); (S.Z.); (J.W.)
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Li L, Li S, Xie F, Chang M, McGowan VA, Wang J, Paterson KB. Establishing a role for the visual complexity of linguistic stimuli in age-related reading difficulty: Evidence from eye movements during Chinese reading. Atten Percept Psychophys 2019; 81:2626-2634. [PMID: 31410763 PMCID: PMC6856292 DOI: 10.3758/s13414-019-01836-y] [Citation(s) in RCA: 9] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/03/2022]
Abstract
Older adults experience greater difficulty compared to young adults during both alphabetic and nonalphabetic reading. However, while this age-related reading difficulty may be attributable to visual and cognitive declines in older adulthood, the underlying causes remain unclear. With the present research, we focused on effects related to the visual complexity of written language. Chinese is ideally suited to investigating such effects, as characters in this logographic writing system can vary substantially in complexity (in terms of their number of strokes, i.e., lines and dashes) while always occupying the same square area of space, so that this complexity is not confounded with word length. Nonreading studies suggests older adults have greater difficulty than young adults when recognizing characters with high compared to low numbers of strokes. The present research used measures of eye movements to investigate adult age differences in these effects during natural reading. Young adult (18-28 years) and older adult (65+ years) participants read sentences that included one of a pair of two-character target words matched for lexical frequency and contextual predictability, but composed of either high-complexity (>9 strokes) or low-complexity (≤7 strokes) characters. Typical patterns of age-related reading difficulty were observed. However, an effect of visual complexity in reading times for words was greater for the older than for the younger adults, due to the older readers experiencing greater difficulty identifying words containing many rather than few strokes. We interpret these findings in terms of the influence of subtle deficits in visual abilities on reading capabilities in older adulthood.
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Affiliation(s)
- Lin Li
- Academy of Psychology and Behavior, Tianjin Normal University, Hexi, District, Tianjin, 30037, China
| | - Sha Li
- Academy of Psychology and Behavior, Tianjin Normal University, Hexi, District, Tianjin, 30037, China
- Department of Psychology, Fujian Normal University, Fuzhou, China
| | - Fang Xie
- Academy of Psychology and Behavior, Tianjin Normal University, Hexi, District, Tianjin, 30037, China
| | - Min Chang
- Academy of Psychology and Behavior, Tianjin Normal University, Hexi, District, Tianjin, 30037, China
| | - Victoria A McGowan
- Department of Neuroscience, Psychology and Behaviour, University of Leicester, George Davies Centre, University Road, Leicester, LE1 9HN, UK
| | - Jingxin Wang
- Academy of Psychology and Behavior, Tianjin Normal University, Hexi, District, Tianjin, 30037, China.
| | - Kevin B Paterson
- Department of Neuroscience, Psychology and Behaviour, University of Leicester, George Davies Centre, University Road, Leicester, LE1 9HN, UK.
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Aging and Pattern Complexity Effects on the Visual Span: Evidence from Chinese Character Recognition. Vision (Basel) 2019; 3:vision3010011. [PMID: 31735812 PMCID: PMC6802760 DOI: 10.3390/vision3010011] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/23/2019] [Revised: 03/16/2019] [Accepted: 03/18/2019] [Indexed: 11/17/2022] Open
Abstract
Research suggests that pattern complexity (number of strokes) limits the visual span for Chinese characters, and that this may have important consequences for reading. With the present research, we investigated age differences in the visual span for Chinese characters by presenting trigrams of low, medium or high complexity at various locations relative to a central point to young (18–30 years) and older (60+ years) adults. A sentence reading task was used to assess their reading speed. The results showed that span size was smaller for high complexity stimuli compared to low and medium complexity stimuli for both age groups, replicating previous findings with young adult participants. Our results additionally showed that this influence of pattern complexity was greater for the older than younger adults, such that while there was little age difference in span size for low and medium complexity stimuli, span size for high complexity stimuli was almost halved in size for the older compared to the young adults. Finally, our results showed that span size correlated with sentence reading speed, confirming previous findings taken as evidence that the visual span imposes perceptual limits on reading speed. We discuss these findings in relation to age-related difficulty reading Chinese.
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Li S, Oliver-Mighten L, Li L, White SJ, Paterson KB, Wang J, Warrington KL, McGowan VA. Adult Age Differences in Effects of Text Spacing on Eye Movements During Reading. Front Psychol 2019; 9:2700. [PMID: 30671009 PMCID: PMC6331398 DOI: 10.3389/fpsyg.2018.02700] [Citation(s) in RCA: 8] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/29/2018] [Accepted: 12/17/2018] [Indexed: 11/25/2022] Open
Abstract
Large-scale changes in text spacing, such as removing the spaces between words, disrupt reading more for older (65+ years) than younger (18–30 years) adults. However, it is unknown whether older readers show greater sensitivity to simultaneous subtle changes in inter-letter and inter-word spacing encountered in everyday reading. To investigate this, we recorded young and older adults’ eye movements while reading sentences in which inter-letter and inter-word spacing was normal, condensed (10 and 20% smaller than normal), or expanded (10 or 20% larger than normal). Each sentence included either a high or low frequency target word, matched for length and contextual predictability. Condensing but not expanding text spacing disrupted reading more for the older adults. Moreover, word frequency effects (the reading time cost for low compared to high frequency words) were larger for the older adults, consistent with aging effects on lexical processing in previous research. However, this age difference in the word frequency effect did not vary across spacing conditions, suggesting spacing did not further disrupt older readers’ lexical processing. We conclude that visual rather than lexical processing is disrupted more for older readers when text spacing is condensed and discuss this finding in relation to common age-related visual deficits.
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Affiliation(s)
- Sha Li
- Academy of Psychology and Behavior, Tianjin Normal University, Tianjin, China
| | - Laurien Oliver-Mighten
- Department of Neuroscience, Psychology and Behaviour, University of Leicester, Leicester, United Kingdom
| | - Lin Li
- Academy of Psychology and Behavior, Tianjin Normal University, Tianjin, China
| | - Sarah J White
- Department of Neuroscience, Psychology and Behaviour, University of Leicester, Leicester, United Kingdom
| | - Kevin B Paterson
- Department of Neuroscience, Psychology and Behaviour, University of Leicester, Leicester, United Kingdom
| | - Jingxin Wang
- Academy of Psychology and Behavior, Tianjin Normal University, Tianjin, China
| | - Kayleigh L Warrington
- Department of Neuroscience, Psychology and Behaviour, University of Leicester, Leicester, United Kingdom
| | - Victoria A McGowan
- Department of Neuroscience, Psychology and Behaviour, University of Leicester, Leicester, United Kingdom
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