1
|
Tsang YK, Zou Y, Wang J, Wong AWK. Rethinking orthographic neighbor in Chinese two-character word recognition: Insights from a megastudy. Psychon Bull Rev 2024; 31:1588-1595. [PMID: 38169040 DOI: 10.3758/s13423-023-02434-8] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Accepted: 12/05/2023] [Indexed: 01/05/2024]
Abstract
The influence of orthographic neighbors on visual word recognition is well established in alphabetic scripts. To determine the universality of this effect across writing systems, researchers have been keen on exploring its presence and nature in Chinese word recognition. Given that Chinese is logographic, it necessitates a different definition for orthographic neighbors from the ones used in alphabetic scripts. One popular approach is to consider words that share characters as orthographic neighbors. Adopting this definition, a facilitative effect has been observed for characters that can create more words. However, as characters are also morphemes in Chinese, the facilitation found might actually come from a larger morphological family size. This possibility was tested in the present study by analyzing data from the Chinese Lexicon Project (CLP; Tse et al., Behavior Research Methods, 49, 1503-1519, 2017, Behavior Research Methods, 49, 1503-1519, 2022), a megastudy of two-character word recognition in traditional Chinese. If the effects of character-sharing are indeed morphological in nature, the facilitation should be smaller for ambiguous characters because the words formed are distributed over several morphological families. The results of the analyses were consistent with this hypothesis, revealing interactions between the number of words formed by a character and the number of meanings of the character. The implications of these findings were discussed in the context of definitions of orthographic neighbors and theories of word recognition in Chinese.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Yiu-Kei Tsang
- Department of Education Studies, Hong Kong Baptist University, Kowloon Tong, Kowloon, Hong Kong.
- Centre for Learning Sciences, Hong Kong Baptist University, Kowloon, Hong Kong.
| | - Yun Zou
- Department of Psychological and Brain Sciences, University of Massachusetts Amherst, Amherst, USA
| | - Jie Wang
- Department of Psychology, The Education University of Hong Kong, Ting Kok, Hong Kong
| | - Andus Wing-Kuen Wong
- Department of Social and Behavioural Sciences, City University of Hong Kong, Kowloon, Hong Kong
| |
Collapse
|
2
|
Tse CS, Chan YL, Yap MJ, Tsang HC. The Chinese Lexicon Project II: A megastudy of speeded naming performance for 25,000+ traditional Chinese two-character words. Behav Res Methods 2023; 55:4382-4402. [PMID: 36443581 PMCID: PMC9707223 DOI: 10.3758/s13428-022-02022-z] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Accepted: 11/06/2022] [Indexed: 11/29/2022]
Abstract
Using a megastudy approach, (Tse et al., 2017 Behavior Research Methods, 49, 1503-1519) established a large-scale repository of lexical variables and lexical decision responses for more than 25,000 traditional Chinese two-character words. In the current study, we expand their database by collecting norms for speeded naming reaction times (RTs) and accuracy rates, and compiling more lexical variables (e.g., phonological consistency and semantic neighborhood size). Following Tse et al.'s procedure, about 33 college-aged native Cantonese speakers in Hong Kong read aloud each word. We conducted item-level regression analyses to test the relative predictive power of orthographic variables (e.g., stroke count), phonological variables (e.g., phonological consistency), and semantic variables (e.g., semantic transparency) in naming performance. We also compared the effects of lexical variables on naming performance and Tse et al.'s lexical decision performance to examine the extent to which effects are task-specific or task-general. Freely accessible to the research community, this resource provides a valuable addition to other influential mega-databases, such as the English Lexicon Project (Balota et al., 2004 Journal of Experimental Psychology: General, 133, 283-316), and furthers our understanding of Chinese word recognition processes.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Chi-Shing Tse
- Department of Educational Psychology, The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong, China.
- Centre for Learning Sciences and Technologies, The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong, New Territories, China.
| | - Yuen-Lai Chan
- Department of Educational Psychology, The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong, China
| | - Melvin J Yap
- Department of Psychology, National University of Singapore, Singapore, Singapore
| | - Ho Chung Tsang
- Department of Educational Psychology, The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong, China
| |
Collapse
|
3
|
Wei Y, Niu Y, Taft M, Carreiras M. Morphological decomposition in Chinese compound word recognition: Electrophysiological evidence. BRAIN AND LANGUAGE 2023; 241:105267. [PMID: 37121022 DOI: 10.1016/j.bandl.2023.105267] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/25/2022] [Revised: 04/06/2023] [Accepted: 04/15/2023] [Indexed: 05/22/2023]
Abstract
The present study examined the effect of both morphological complexity and semantic transparency in Chinese compound word recognition. Using a visual lexical decision task, our electrophysiological results showed that transparent and opaque compounds induced stronger Left Anterior Negativity (LAN) than monomorphemic words. This result suggests that Chinese compounds might be decomposed into their constituent morphemes at the lemma level, whereas monomorphemic words are accessed as a whole-word lemma directly from the form level. In addition, transparent and opaque compounds produced a similar N400 as each other, suggesting that transparency did not show an effect on the involvement of constituent morphemes during access to the whole-word lemma. Two behavioral experiments additionally showed similar patterns to the EEG results. These findings support morphological decomposition for compounds at the lemma level as proposed by the full-parsing model, and no evidence is found to support the role of transparency during Chinese compound word recognition.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Yanjun Wei
- Key Laboratory of the Cognitive Science of Language (Beijing Language and Culture University), Ministry of Education, China; Center for the Cognitive Science of Language, Beijing Language and Culture University, 100083 Beijing, China; Basque Center on Cognition, Brain and Language, 20009 Donostia-San Sebastián, Spain.
| | - Ying Niu
- Center for the Cognitive Science of Language, Beijing Language and Culture University, 100083 Beijing, China
| | - Marcus Taft
- Center for the Cognitive Science of Language, Beijing Language and Culture University, 100083 Beijing, China; School of Psychology, UNSW Sydney, NSW 2052, Australia
| | - Manuel Carreiras
- Basque Center on Cognition, Brain and Language, 20009 Donostia-San Sebastián, Spain; Departamento de Lengua Vasca y Comunicación, University of the Basque Country (UPV/EHU), 48940 Leioa, Spain; Ikerbasque, Basque Foundation for Science, 48013 Bilbao, Spain
| |
Collapse
|
4
|
Zou Y, Tsang YK, Shum YH, Tse CY. Full-form vs. combinatorial processing of Chinese compound words: Evidence from mismatch negativity. Int J Psychophysiol 2023; 187:11-19. [PMID: 36809841 DOI: 10.1016/j.ijpsycho.2023.02.004] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/17/2022] [Revised: 02/11/2023] [Accepted: 02/15/2023] [Indexed: 02/22/2023]
Abstract
This study examined whether Chinese spoken compound words are processed via full-form access or combination through morphemes by recording mismatch negativity (MMN). MMN has been shown to be larger for linguistic units that involves full-form access (lexical MMN enhancement) and smaller for separate but combinable units (combinatorial MMN reduction). Chinse compound words were compared against pseudocompounds, which do not have full-form representations in the long-term memory and are "illegal" combinations. All stimuli were disyllabic (bimorphemic). Word frequency was manipulated with the prediction that low-frequency compounds are more likely processed combinatorially, while high-frequency ones are more likely accessed in full forms. The results showed that low-frequency words elicited smaller MMNs than pseudocompounds, which supported the prediction of combinatorial processing. However, neither MMN enhancement nor reduction was found for high-frequency words. These results were interpreted within the dual-route model framework that assumes simultaneous access to words and morphemes.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Yun Zou
- Department of Psychological and Brain Sciences, University of Massachusetts Amherst, United States of America
| | - Yiu-Kei Tsang
- Department of Education Studies, Hong Kong Baptist University, Hong Kong; Centre for Learning Sciences, Hong Kong Baptist University, Hong Kong.
| | - Yu-Hei Shum
- Department of Psychology, Humboldt Universität zu Berlin, Germany
| | - Chun-Yu Tse
- Department of Social and Behavioural Sciences, City University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong.
| |
Collapse
|
5
|
Huang B, Yang X, Dong S, Gu F. Visual event-related potentials reveal the early whole-word lexical processing of Chinese two-character words. Neuropsychologia 2023; 185:108571. [PMID: 37119984 DOI: 10.1016/j.neuropsychologia.2023.108571] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/04/2022] [Revised: 04/25/2023] [Accepted: 04/26/2023] [Indexed: 05/01/2023]
Abstract
Morphologically complex words are common across different languages, especially in Chinese, because more than 90% of common modern Chinese words are complex words. Many behavioral studies have suggested the whole-word processing of Chinese complex words, but the neural correlates of whole-word processing remain unclear. Previous electrophysiological studies revealed automatic and early (∼250 ms) access to the orthographic forms of monomorphic words in the ventral occipitotemporal area. In this study, we investigated whether there is also automatic and early orthographic recognition of Chinese complex words (as whole units) by recording event-related potentials (ERPs). A total of 150 two-character words and 150 two-character pseudowords composed of the same 300 characters (morphemes) were pseudorandomly presented to proficient Chinese readers. Participants were required to determine the color of each stimulus in the color decision task and to determine whether each stimulus was a word in the lexical decision task. The two constituent characters of each stimulus were horizontally arranged in Experiment 1 and vertically arranged in Experiment 2. The results revealed a significant early ERP difference between words and pseudowords approximately 250-300 ms after stimulus onset in the parieto-occipital scalp region. The early ERP difference was more prominent in the color decision task than in the lexical decision task, more prominent in Experiment 1 than in Experiment 2, and more prominent in the left parieto-occipital scalp region than in the right. Source analysis results showed that the early ERP difference originated from the left ventral occipitotemporal cortex. These results reflected early and automatic access to whole-word orthographic representations of Chinese complex words in the left ventral occipitotemporal cortex.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Bo Huang
- Neurocognitive Laboratory for Linguistics and Semiotics, College of Literature and Journalism, Sichuan University, Chengdu, 610207, China
| | - Xueying Yang
- Neurocognitive Laboratory for Linguistics and Semiotics, College of Literature and Journalism, Sichuan University, Chengdu, 610207, China
| | - Shiwei Dong
- Neurocognitive Laboratory for Linguistics and Semiotics, College of Literature and Journalism, Sichuan University, Chengdu, 610207, China
| | - Feng Gu
- Neurocognitive Laboratory for Linguistics and Semiotics, College of Literature and Journalism, Sichuan University, Chengdu, 610207, China; Digital Convergence Laboratory of Chinese Cultural Inheritance and Global Communication, Sichuan University, Chengdu, 610207, China.
| |
Collapse
|
6
|
Yin H, Libben G, Derwing BL. How the Chinese writing system can reveal the fundamentals of hierarchical lexical structure. JOURNAL OF CULTURAL COGNITIVE SCIENCE 2022. [DOI: 10.1007/s41809-022-00108-w] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/29/2022]
|
7
|
Tsang YK, Zou Y. An ERP megastudy of Chinese word recognition. Psychophysiology 2022; 59:e14111. [PMID: 35609148 DOI: 10.1111/psyp.14111] [Citation(s) in RCA: 6] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/20/2021] [Revised: 04/11/2022] [Accepted: 05/04/2022] [Indexed: 12/01/2022]
Abstract
This article reports the first ERP (event-related potential) megastudy in traditional Chinese word recognition. Fifty-one native Chinese undergraduates in Hong Kong, who were native Cantonese speakers, provided ERP data to 1020 two-character words and 204 two-character pseudowords in a go/no-go lexical decision task (go trials: pseudowords). The item list and the ERP data were compiled into a database called "E-MELD" (ERP MEgastudy of Lexical Decision). To illustrate how E-MELD can be utilized in research of traditional Chinese word recognition, a series of linear mixed-effects (LME) models were conducted to examine how properties at word (contextual diversity, number of strokes, and concreteness) and character (contextual diversity, number of homophones, and semantic transparency ratings) levels influenced the ERP amplitudes in different time windows. The results showed that in all time windows, both word and character variables influenced the amplitudes of ERP signals, which argued against the proposal that Chinese two-character words are recognized holistically. At the same time, there was no evidence that character effects preceded word effects (i.e., no evidence of character-mediated word recognition). Overall, the pattern suggests that characters and words are accessed simultaneously in Chinese word recognition. E-MELD is made available online, such that interested researchers can download it and use the data innovatively for their research purpose.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Yiu-Kei Tsang
- Department of Education Studies, Hong Kong Baptist University, Kowloon, Hong Kong.,Centre for Learning Sciences, Hong Kong Baptist University, Kowloon, Hong Kong
| | - Yun Zou
- Department of Education Studies, Hong Kong Baptist University, Kowloon, Hong Kong.,Department of Psychological and Brain Sciences, University of Massachusetts Amherst, Amherst, Massachusetts, USA
| |
Collapse
|
8
|
Zhao S, Wu Y, Tsang YK, Sui X, Zhu Z. Morpho-semantic analysis of ambiguous morphemes in Chinese compound word recognition: An fMRI study. Neuropsychologia 2021; 157:107862. [PMID: 33865849 DOI: 10.1016/j.neuropsychologia.2021.107862] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/05/2020] [Revised: 03/31/2021] [Accepted: 04/14/2021] [Indexed: 10/21/2022]
Abstract
The present fMRI study examined the neural basis of processing context-supported or -unsupported interpretations of ambiguous morphemes during Chinese compound word reading in a masked priming lexical decision task. Targets were Chinese bimorphemic words that contained ambiguous morphemes. Prime words contained the same ambiguous morphemes with either the same meanings (context-supported interpretation) or different ones (context-unsupported interpretation). Lexical-level semantic sharing and unrelated control conditions were also included. Compared to the unrelated control condition, the context-supported morphemic meaning was associated with increased activity in the left SFG and bilateral MTG, and this priming effect could be dissociated from that of the lexical-level semantic-related condition. In broader brain regions, including the left SFG, bilateral MTG, left STG, right IOG, and left precuneus, the context-unsupported meaning condition showed decreased activity compared with the unrelated control condition. These findings indicate that both the context-supported and -unsupported meanings evoke significant priming effects, however, they differ from each other with different brain basis, providing new insight into the neural substrates of ambiguous morpheme processing.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Simin Zhao
- School of Psychology, Northeast Normal University, Changchun, 130024, China
| | - Yan Wu
- School of Psychology, Northeast Normal University, Changchun, 130024, China.
| | - Yiu-Kei Tsang
- Department of Education Studies, Hong Kong Baptist University, Hong Kong, China
| | - Xue Sui
- Institute of Psychology, Liaoning Normal University, Dalian, 116029, China
| | - Zude Zhu
- Collaborative Innovation Center for Language Competence, Jiangsu Normal University, Xuzhou, 221009, China.
| |
Collapse
|
9
|
Wang Y, Jiang M, Huang Y, Qiu P. An ERP Study on the Role of Phonological Processing in Reading Two-Character Compound Chinese Words of High and Low Frequency. Front Psychol 2021; 12:637238. [PMID: 33716906 PMCID: PMC7947322 DOI: 10.3389/fpsyg.2021.637238] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/03/2020] [Accepted: 02/04/2021] [Indexed: 11/17/2022] Open
Abstract
Unlike in English, the role of phonology in word recognition in Chinese is unclear. In this event-related potential experiment, we investigated the role of phonology in reading both high- and low-frequency two-character compound Chinese words. Participants executed semantic and homophone judgment tasks of the same precede-target pairs. Each pair of either high- or low-frequency words were either unrelated (control condition) or related semantically or phonologically (homophones). The induced P200 component was greater for low- than for high-frequency word-pairs both in semantic and phonological tasks. Homophones in the semantic judgment task and semantically-related words in the phonology task both elicited a smaller N400 than the control condition, word frequency-independently. However, for low-frequency words in the phonological judgment task, it was found that the semantically related pairs released a significantly larger P200 than the control condition. Thus, the semantic activation of both high- and low-frequency words may be no later than phonological activation.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Yuling Wang
- Center for Psychology and Cognitive Science, Tsinghua University, Beijing, China
| | - Minghu Jiang
- Center for Psychology and Cognitive Science, Tsinghua University, Beijing, China
| | - Yunlong Huang
- Advanced Innovation Center for Future Education, Beijing Normal University, Beijing, China
| | - Peijun Qiu
- Laboratory of Cognitive Linguistics, Department of Foreign Languages and Literature, Tsinghua University, Beijing, China.,College of International Sport Organizations, Beijing Sport University, Beijing, China
| |
Collapse
|
10
|
Morphosemantic activation of opaque Chinese words in sentence comprehension. PLoS One 2020; 15:e0236697. [PMID: 32785231 PMCID: PMC7423111 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0236697] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/19/2019] [Accepted: 07/12/2020] [Indexed: 11/22/2022] Open
Abstract
Two cross-modal priming experiments were conducted to investigate morphological processing in Chinese spoken word recognition during sentence comprehension. Participants heard sentences that contained opaque prime words and performed lexical decisions on visual targets that were related to second morpheme meanings of opaque words or whole-word meanings. The targets were presented at the auditory onset of the second morphemes or the subsequent syllables after the opaque primes to examine the time course of effects. In a neutral sentence context (Experiment 1), opaque word morpheme meanings produced morphological priming on target word recognition, which preceded lexical priming. When context biased toward whole opaque words (Experiment 2), morphological priming disappeared, while the effect of lexical meanings remained significant and emerged earlier than the effect of lexical meanings in the neutral context. These findings suggest that morphemes play a role in Chinese spoken word recognition, but their effects depend on the prior context during sentence comprehension.
Collapse
|
11
|
|
12
|
The time course of morphological processing during spoken word recognition in Chinese. Psychon Bull Rev 2017; 24:1957-1963. [PMID: 28361435 DOI: 10.3758/s13423-017-1274-z] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.1] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/08/2022]
Abstract
We investigated the time course of morphological processing during spoken word recognition using the printed-word paradigm. Chinese participants were asked to listen to a spoken disyllabic compound word while simultaneously viewing a printed-word display. Each visual display consisted of three printed words: a semantic associate of the first constituent of the compound word (morphemic competitor), a semantic associate of the whole compound word (whole-word competitor), and an unrelated word (distractor). Participants were directed to detect whether the spoken target word was on the visual display. Results indicated that both the morphemic and whole-word competitors attracted more fixations than the distractor. More importantly, the morphemic competitor began to diverge from the distractor immediately at the acoustic offset of the first constituent, which was earlier than the whole-word competitor. These results suggest that lexical access to the auditory word is incremental and morphological processing (i.e., semantic access to the first constituent) that occurs at an early processing stage before access to the representation of the whole word in Chinese.
Collapse
|