Investigating word length effects in Chinese reading.

Chuanli Zang,Guoli Yan,Xuejun Bai,Ying Fu,Simon P Liversedge

doi:10.1037/xhp0000589

Abstract

A word’s length in English is fundamental in determining whether readers fixate it, and how long they spend processing it during reading. Chinese is unspaced, and most words are two characters long: Is word length an important cue to eye guidance in Chinese reading? Eye movements were recorded as participants read sentences containing a one-, two-, or three-character word matched for frequency. Results showed that longer words took longer to process (primarily driven by refixations). Furthermore, skips were fewer, incoming saccades longer, and landing positions further to the right of long than short words. Additional analyses of a three-character region (matched stroke number) showed an incremental processing cost when character(s) belonged to different, rather than the same, word. These results demonstrate that word length affects both lexical identification and saccade target selection in Chinese reading.

Highlights

A word’s length in English is fundamental in determining whether readers fixate it, and how long they spend processing it during reading
Most words are two characters long: Is word length an important cue to eye guidance in Chinese reading? Eye movements were recorded as participants read sentences containing a one, two, or three-character word matched for frequency
Word length influences the amplitude of first-pass saccades into a word, with initial landing positions centered around the Preferred Viewing Location (PVL; Rayner, 1979) being proportionally closer to the word beginning for long than short words (McConkie, Kerr, Reddix, & Zola, 1988)

Summary

Introduction

A word’s length in English is fundamental in determining whether readers fixate it, and how long they spend processing it during reading. Additional analyses of a three-character region (matched stroke number) showed an incremental processing cost when character(s) belonged to different, rather than the same, word These results demonstrate that word length affects both lexical identification and saccade target selection in Chinese reading. Word length influences the amplitude of first-pass saccades into a word, with initial landing positions centered around the Preferred Viewing Location (PVL; Rayner, 1979) being proportionally closer to the word beginning for long than short words (McConkie, Kerr, Reddix, & Zola, 1988) These findings primarily derive from studies of alphabetic languages like English, where interword spaces define the spatial extent of words and provide a salient visual cue for saccadic targeting.

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