语素语义在副中央凹的动态激活过程：来自中文阅读的眼动研究

Parafoveal preview processing is an important and indispensable constituent of normal reading. It means that the processing of a word starts when it falls in the parafoveal vision, which is to the right of fixation. What kind of information could be obtained from the parafovea and how that happen are important questions in the field of language research. Especially, it is a controversial question whether semantic preview benefit is a common effect in reading Chinese. It is important to note that, Chinese is a language that greatly different from alphabetic languages, like English. Characters, but not words, are the basic units of written Chinese. Most of the characters have more than one meanings and the usage frequencies of these meanings are different. However, the important role of morphemic meanings was neglected by former studies on semantic preview processing in Chinese. The current grant proposal is set up to address this question by three studies. The first study will examine whether different kinds of morphemic meaning, varying in frequency and transparency, would be activated in the parafoveal vision and then show a semantic preview benefit. Then, the second study will examine the time course of semantic activation of different morphemic meanings in the parafovea. Furthermore, the third study will investigate whether the pattern of semantic preview benefit would be affected by the degree of relatedness in semantics and orthography between the target word and the preview word. Taken together, these studies try to identify how semantic preview processing is affected by morphemic meaning of the preview word, and thus understand more about the nature of sematic preview processing in reading Chinese. The results of these studies could be useful in application, like help develop fast-reading paradigm to enhance people’s reading rate; they also have implication for education, how to teach and learn better in accordance to our cognitive function.

副中央凹预视加工是自然阅读的一部分，它意味着当词汇还处于注视点右边的副中央凹视觉区域时，词汇加工便开始了。副中央凹信息加工的特点和机制，一直是语言研究的重要课题。中文阅读中是否存在语义层面的副中央凹预视效应，更是一个备受争议的问题。然而，目前对中文阅读的副中央凹语义加工的研究，并没有考虑语素语义特征的影响。中文的语素往往具有多个意义，不同的语素语义在副中央上的加工是个复杂的过程。本项目拟从这个角度出发，通过三个研究探讨不同的语素语义在副中央凹上如何被激活，以及其动态的加工过程是如何影响语义预视效应的。这些研究将填补以往研究的空白，有助于解决当前关于副中央凹语义加工本质的争议，建构中文特有的眼动控制模型。其成果对开发适合读者快速阅读的范式有重要的应用价值，对语言学习和教学也有启发意义。

副中央凹预视加工是自然阅读的一部分，它意味着当词汇还处于注视点右边的副中央凹视觉区域时，词汇加工便开始了。副中央凹信息加工的特点和机制，一直是语言研究的重要课题。中文阅读中是否存在语义层面的副中央凹预视效应，更是一个备受争议的问题。然而，目前对中文阅读的副中央凹语义加工的研究，并没有考虑语素语义特征的影响。中文的语素往往具有多个意义，不同的语素语义在副中央上的加工是个复杂的过程。本项目从这个角度出发，通过三个系列研究探讨不同的语素语义在副中央凹上如何被激活，以及其动态的加工过程是如何影响语义预视效应的。结果发现：不平衡语素的主要意义和次要意义在副中央凹的存在不同的激活水平和进程，预视加工早期只有主要意义被激活，次要语义只有在合适语境且在加工后期才会被激活，这也说明在中央凹加工之前，适合语境的语义已经被识别；然而，语素的不透明语义在副中央凹上的加工效应非常微弱，其加工效应要目标词在中央凹加工中才表现出来，意味着不透明语素语义的加工相对滞后。此外，当双字目标词包含的语素与预视词的语素不同时，不同语素语义相关带来的语义预视效应不显著。研究结果还发现，眼跳发起距离对副中央凹加工效应也产生重要的影响，虽然“预视效应”常用来代表预视加工，它实质包含了预视促进和阻碍两种不同的加工，落在目标词上注视点的眼跳发起距离远，会带来更大的 “预视阻碍”效应。上述结果较为系统地揭示了中文语素语义信息从副中央凹到中央凹加工的机制，为中文眼动控制模型的发展和修正提供新的数据,有助于解决当前关于副中央凹语义加工本质的争议；也对语言学习与教学提供依据，对理解有阅读困难或语文学习落后儿童的表现，有一定的启发作用。