Cross-Modal Impact of Recent Word Encountering Experience

Abstract

ABSTRACT Purpose This study was designed to distinguish the degree of sharing of representations between different modalities by investigating whether a word encountering experience in one modality impacts word processing in another modality. Method In three experiments, participants experienced some words frequently in the auditory modality (Experiment 1, sample size 30, mean age 23.4, 56.7% female, all participants were native Chinese speakers) or visual modality (Experiment 2, sample size 30, mean age 22.4 years, 63.3% female, all participants were native Chinese speakers) in the training session, and were tested whether the word encountering experience impacts the results of Chinese word segmentation in the visual modality in the test session. In Experiment 3 (sample size 30, mean age 24.6 years, 76.7% female, all participants were native Chinese speakers), we used a within-subjects design, in which each participant received both auditory and visual training tasks. Results The results of the three experiments showed that encountering a word frequently in a short period of time in the auditory modality or visual modality can affect word segmentation in Chinese reading, with a recently experienced word being more likely to be segmented as a word. This effect was long-lasting, as it could still be observed after 7 days. Conclusion The results suggest that the effect of a word encountering experience in listening can be transferred to reading. Thus, word encountering experiences should be stored at a location in the mind that is used for both listening and reading.