Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

The time course of incremental word processing during Chinese reading

  • Published:
Reading and Writing Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

In the current study, we report two eye movement experiments investigating how Chinese readers process incremental words during reading. These are words where some of the component characters constitute another word (an embedded word). In two experiments, eye movements were monitored while the participants read sentences with incremental words whose first two characters (Experiment 1) or last two characters (Experiment 2) constituted a word (referred to respectively as “head-embedded” and “tail embedded”). Reading times on these words were longer when the frequencies of the embedded words were lower. However, this was only seen on first fixation duration for head-embedded words. These results suggest that embedded words are activated when Chinese readers process incremental words, and that this activation is earlier for a head-embedded word than for a tail-embedded word. These results support a hierarchical model which assumes that the representation for whole word is activated via the representation of its constituent morphemes.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  • Andrews, S., Miller, B., & Rayner, K. (2004). Eye movements and morphological segmentation of compound words: There is a mouse in mousetrap. European Journal of Cognitive Psychology, 16(1–2), 285–311. https://doi.org/10.1080/09541440340000123.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Baayen, R. H., Davidson, D. J., & Bates, D. M. (2008). Mixed-effects modeling with crossed random effects for subjects and items. Journal of Memory and Language, 59, 390–412. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jml.2007.12.005.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Bai, X., Yan, G., Liversedge, S. P., Zang, C., & Rayner, K. (2008). Reading spaced and unspaced Chinese text: Evidence from eye movements. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Human Perception and Performance, 34(5), 1277–1287. https://doi.org/10.1037/0096-1523.34.5.1277.

    Google Scholar 

  • Bates, D., Maechler, M., Bolker, B., & Walker, S. (2014). lme4: Linear mixed- effects models using Eigen and S4_. R package version 1.1-7. http://CRAN.R-project.org/package=lme4.

  • Beauvillain, C. (1996). The integration of morphological and whole-word form information during eye fixations on prefixed and suffixed words. Journal of Memory and Language, 35, 801–820. https://doi.org/10.1006/jmla.1996.0041.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Bertram, R., & Hyönä, J. (2003). The length of a complex word modifies the role of morphological structure: Evidence from eye movements when short and long finnish compounds. Journal of Memory and Language, 48(3), 615–634. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0749-596X(02)00539-9.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Bowers, J. S., Davis, C. J., & Hanley, D. A. (2005). Automatic semantic activation of embedded words: Is there a “hat” in “that”? Journal of Memory and Language, 52, 131–143.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Chinese Linguistic Data Consortium. (2003). 现代汉语通用词表 [Chinese lexicon] (CLDC-LAC-2003-001). Beijing, China: Tsinghua University, State Key Laboratory of Intelligent Technology and Systems, and Chinese Academy of Sciences, Institute of Automation.

  • Cui, L., Yan, G., Bai, X., Hyönä, J., Wang, S., & Liversedge, S. P. (2012). Processing of compound-word characters in reading Chinese: An eye-movement-contingent display change study. Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology, 66(3), 527–547. https://doi.org/10.1080/17470218.2012.667423.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Davis, C. J., & Taft, M. (2005). More words in the neighborhood: interference in lexical decision due to deletion neighbors. Psychonomic Bulletin & Review, 12(5), 904–910.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Davis, C. J., Perea, M., & Acha, J. (2009). Re(de)fining the orthographic neighborhood: The role of addition and deletion neighbors in lexical decision and reading. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Human Perception and Performance, 35(5), 1550–1570. https://doi.org/10.1037/a0014253.

    Google Scholar 

  • Gagné, C. L., & Spalding, T. L. (2009). Constituent integration during the processing of compound words: Does it involve the use of relational structures? Journal of Memory and Language, 60(1), 20–35. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jml.2008.07.003.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Huang, C., & Zhao, H. (2007). Chinese word segmentation: A decade review. Journal of Chinese Information Processing, 21(2), 8–19.

    Google Scholar 

  • Hyönä, J., & Pollatsek, A. (1998). Reading Finnish compound words: Eye fixations are affected by component morphemes. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Human Perception and Performance, 24(6), 1612–1627.

    Google Scholar 

  • Inhoff, A. W., & Wu, C. (2005). Eye movements and the identification of spatially ambiguous words during Chinese sentence reading. Memory & Cognition, 33, 1345–1356. https://doi.org/10.3758/BF03193367.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Janssen, N., Bi, Y., & Caramazza, A. (2008). A tale of two frequencies: Determining the speed of lexical access for Mandarin Chinese and English compounds. Language and Cognitive Processes. https://doi.org/10.1080/01690960802250900.

    Google Scholar 

  • Juhasz, B. J., Starr, M. S., Inhoff, A. W., & Placke, L. (2003). The effects of morphology on the processing of compound words: Evidence from naming, lexical decisions and eye fixations. British Journal of Psychology, 94(Pt 2), 223–244. https://doi.org/10.1348/000712603321661903.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Kuperman, V., Bertram, R., & Baayen, R. H. (2008). Morphological dynamics in compound processing. Language and Cognitive Processes, 23, 1089–1132. https://doi.org/10.1080/01690960802193688.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Kuperman, V., Schreuder, R., Bertram, R., & Baayen, R. H. (2009). Reading polymorphemic Dutch compounds: Toward a multiple route model of lexical processing. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Human Perception and Performance, 35(3), 876–895. https://doi.org/10.1037/a0013484.

    Google Scholar 

  • Kuznetsova, A., Brockhoff, P. B., & Christensen, R. H. B. (2014). lmerTest: Tests for random and fixed effects for linear mixed effect models (lmer objects of lme4 package): R package version 2.0-6. http://CRAN.R-project.org/package=lmerTest.

  • Li, X., Liu, P., & Rayner, K. (2014). Saccade target selection in Chinese reading. Psychonomic Bulletin & Review, 22(2), 524–530.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Li, X., Rayner, K., & Cave, K. R. (2009). On the segmentation of Chinese words during reading. Cognitive Psychology, 58(4), 525–552. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cogpsych.2009.02.003.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Liversedge, S. P., Zang, C., Zhang, M., Bai, X., Yan, G., & Drieghe, D. (2014). The effect of visual complexity and word frequency on eye movements during Chinese reading. Visual Cognition, 22(3–4), 441–457. https://doi.org/10.1080/13506285.2014.889260.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Ma, G., Li, X., & Rayner, K. (2014). Word segmentation of overlapping ambiguous strings during Chinese reading. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Human Perception and Performance, 40(3), 1046–1059. https://doi.org/10.1037/a0035389.

    Google Scholar 

  • Ma, G., Pollatsek, A., Li, Y., & Li, X. (2017). Chinese readers can perceive a word even when it’s composed of noncontiguous characters. Journal of Experimental Psychology. Learning, Memory, and Cognition, 43(1), 158–166. https://doi.org/10.1037/xlm0000298.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • McClelland, J. L., & Rumelhart, D. E. (1981). An interactive activation model of context effects in basic findings. Psychological Review, 88, 375–407.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Miwa, K., Libben, G., & Ikemoto, Y. (2017). Visual trimorphemic compound recognition in a morphographic script. Language, Cognition and Neuroscience, 32(1), 1–20. https://doi.org/10.1080/23273798.2016.1205204.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Perfetti, C. A., & Tan, L. H. (1999). The constituency model of Chinese word identification. In J. Wang, A. W. Inhoff, & H.-C. Chen (Eds.), Reading Chinese script: A cognitive analysis (pp. 115–134). Mahwah, NJ: Erlbaum.

    Google Scholar 

  • Pollatsek, A., Hyönä, J., & Bertram, R. (2000). The role of morphological constituents in reading Finnish compound words. Journal of Experimental Psychology Human Perception & Performance, 26(2), 820–833.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Pollatsek, A., Bertram, R., & Hyönä, J. (2011). Processing novel and lexicalised Finnish compound words. Journal of Cognitive Psychology, 23(7), 795–810. https://doi.org/10.1080/20445911.2011.570257.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • R Development Core Team. (2016). R: A language and environment for statistical computing [Computer software]. Vienna, Austria: R Foundation for Statistical Computing. Retrieved from www.R-project.org.

  • Rayner, K., Pollatsek, A., Drieghe, D., Slattery, T. J., & Reichle, E. D. (2007). Tracking the mind during reading via eye movements: Comments on Kliegl, Nuthmann, and Engbert (2006). Journal of Experimental Psychology: General, 136(3), 520–537. https://doi.org/10.1037/0096-3445.136.3.520.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Taft, M. (1979). Recognition of affixed words and the word frequency effect. The Memory & Cognition, 7(4), 263–272. https://doi.org/10.3758/BF03197599.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Taft, M. (2003). Morphological representation as a correlation between form and meaning. In E. Assink & D. Sandra (Eds.), Reading complex words (pp. 113–137). Amsterdam: Kluwer.

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  • Taft, M. (2004). Morphological decomposition and the reverse base frequency effect. The Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology Section A, 57(4), 745–765. https://doi.org/10.1080/02724980343000477.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Taft, M., & Forster, K. I. (1975). Lexical storage and retrieval of prefixed words. Journal of Verbal Learning and Verbal Behavior, 14(6), 638–647. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0022-5371(75)80051-X.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Taft, M., & Forster, K. I. (1976). Lexical storage and retrieval of polymorphemic and polysyllabic words. Journal of Verbal Learning and Verbal Behavior, 15, 607–620. https://doi.org/10.1016/0022-5371(76)90054-2.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Tsang, Y.-K., & Chen, H.-C. (2010). Morphemic ambiguity resolution in Chinese: Activation of the subordinate meaning with a prior dominant-biased context. Psychonomic Bulletin & Review, 17(6), 875–881. https://doi.org/10.3758/PBR.17.6.875.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Tsang, Y.-K., & Chen, H.-C. (2013). Morpho-semantic processing in word recognition: Evidence from balanced and biased ambiguous morphemes. Journal of Experimental Psychology. Learning, Memory, and Cognition, 39(6), 1990–2001. https://doi.org/10.1037/a0033701.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Tsang, Y.-K., & Chen, H.-C. (2014). Activation of morphemic meanings in processing opaque words. Psychonomic Bulletin & Review, 6, 1281–1286. https://doi.org/10.3758/s13423-014-0589-2.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Wang, C., & Peng, D. (1999). The role of surface frequencies, Cumulative morpheme frequencies, and semantic transparencies in the processing of compound words. Acta Psychologica, 31(3), 2–9.

    Google Scholar 

  • Weingartner, K. M., Juhasz, B. J., & Rayner, K. (2012). Lexical embeddings produce interference when they are morphologically unrelated to the words in which they are contained: Evidence from eye movements. Journal of Cognitive Psychology, 24(2), 179–188. https://doi.org/10.1080/20445911.2011.604028.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Wu, A. (2007). Reflection on precedence relationship between word recognition and word segmentation. Journal of Chinese Information Processing, 21(3), 20.

    Google Scholar 

  • Yan, G., Tian, H., Bai, X., & Rayner, K. (2006). The effect of word and character frequency on the eye movements of Chinese readers. British Journal of Psychology, 97(May), 259–268.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Zang, C., Liang, F., Bai, X., Yan, G., & Liversedge, S. P. (2013). Interword spacing and landing position effects during Chinese reading in children and adults. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Human Perception and Performance, 39(3), 720–734. https://doi.org/10.1037/a0030097.

    Google Scholar 

  • Zang, C., Zhang, M., Bai, X., Yan, G., Paterson, K. B., & Liversedge, S. P. (2015). Effects of word frequency and visual complexity on eye movements of young and older Chinese readers. Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology, 2006, 1–17. https://doi.org/10.1080/17470218.2015.1083594.

    Google Scholar 

  • Zhou, X., Marslen-Wilson, W., Taft, M., & Shu, H. (1999). Morphology, orthography, and phonology reading Chinese compound words. Language and Cognitive Processes, 14(5–6), 525–565.

    Article  Google Scholar 

Download references

Acknowledgements

This research was supported by grants from the Natural Science Foundation of China (31571125), and the Beijing Advanced Innovation Center for Imaging Technology (BAICIT-2016018).

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. CAS Key Laboratory of Behavioral Science, Institute of Psychology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, 16 Lincui Road, Beijing, 100101, China

    Junyi Zhou & Xingshan Li

  2. School of Physical Education and Sport Science, Fujian Normal University, 1 Keji Rd., Minhou District, Fuzhou, 350117, Fujian, China

    Junyi Zhou

  3. Shaanxi Key Laboratory of Behavior and Cognitive Neuroscience, School of Psychology, Shaanxi Normal University, Xi’an, China

    Guojie Ma

  4. School of Psychology, University of NSW, Sydney, Australia

    Marcus Taft

Authors
  1. Junyi Zhou
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Guojie Ma
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. Xingshan Li
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  4. Marcus Taft
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Xingshan Li.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Zhou, J., Ma, G., Li, X. et al. The time course of incremental word processing during Chinese reading. Read Writ 31, 607–625 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11145-017-9800-y

Download citation

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11145-017-9800-y

Keywords

Search

Navigation