Work

Is preview benefit from word n + 2 a common effect in reading Chinese? Evidence from eye movements

Year: 2010

Type: article

Abstract: Although most studies of reading English (and other alphabetic languages) have indicated that readers do not obtain preview benefit from word n + 2, Yang, Wang, Xu, and Rayner (2009) reported evidence that Chinese readers obtain preview benefit from word n + 2. However, this effect may not be common in Chinese because the character prior to the target word in Yang et al.'s experiment was always a very high frequency function word. In the current experiment, we utilized a relatively low frequency word n + 1 to examine whether an n + 2 preview benefit effect would still exist and failed to find any preview benefit from word n + 2. These results are consistent with a recent study which indicated that foveal load modulates the perceptual span during Chinese reading (Yan, Kliegl, Shu, Pan, & Zhou, 2010). Implications of these results for models of eye movement control are discussed.

Source: Reading and Writing

DOI: 10.1007/s11145-010-9282-7

Authors: Jinmian Yang, Keith Rayner, Nan Li, Suiping Wang

Institutions: University of California San Diego, South China Normal University

Language: English

Topic: Reading and Literacy Development

Subfield: Developmental and Educational Psychology

Field: Psychology

Domain: Social Sciences

Open Access status: hybrid

Estimated APC paid: $3,290

Funders: National Natural Science Foundation of China, Natural Science Foundation of Guangdong Province, Program for New Century Excellent Talents in University, Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development