Abstract
Recent studies have demonstrated that saccadic programming in reading is not only determined by low-level visual factors. High-level morphological effects on saccade have been shown in two morphologically rich languages. In the present study, we examined the underlying mechanism of such morphological influences by comparing the processes of reading three-character Chinese compound words that differ in their structures in terms of morphological decomposition. Consistent with earlier reports, our results showed an effect of morphological structure on saccade. The readers’ first-fixation location shifted further away from the beginning of the word, when the last two characters were more morphologically bounded and thus formed a [1 + 2] structure, than when the first two characters were more bounded (i.e., a [2 + 1] structure). The results are not accountable by a processing difficulty hypothesis, which proposes that saccade amplitude is determined by morphological complexity; rather, they suggest that Chinese readers parafoveally decompose a word and spontaneously target its longer stem, thus reflecting parafoveal access to words’ stems.
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09 January 2023
A Correction to this paper has been published: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11145-022-10406-y
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Funding
Funding was provided by The Multi-Year Research Grant from the University of Macau (Grant No. MYRG2020-00120-FSS). The National Social Science Fund of China, Program for Young Scholars (Grant No. 18CYY024,YINGYI LUO).
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Appendix
Appendix
All the target items used in the experiment.
2 + 1 | 1 + 2 | 2 + 1 | 1 + 2 | 2 + 1 | 1 + 2 | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | 白血病 | 白细胞 | 31 | 国务卿 | 国宾馆 | 61 | 手术室 | 手风琴 |
2 | 北极星 | 北美洲 | 32 | 海岸线 | 海平面 | 62 | 书生气 | 书呆子 |
3 | 北极圈 | 北半球 | 33 | 黑手党 | 黑社会 | 63 | 双氧水 | 双眼皮 |
4 | 变速箱 | 变戏法 | 34 | 红外线 | 红十字 | 64 | 私生子 | 私生活 |
5 | 菜籽油 | 菜篮子 | 35 | 红眼病 | 红卫兵 | 65 | 死亡率 | 死心眼 |
6 | 超短裙 | 超负荷 | 36 | 灰白色 | 灰姑娘 | 66 | 糖尿病 | 糖葫芦 |
7 | 成员国 | 成问题 | 37 | 急诊室 | 急行军 | 67 | 铁甲舰 | 铁蚕豆 |
8 | 打字机 | 打下手 | 38 | 集中营 | 集大成 | 68 | 铁道部 | 铁饭碗 |
9 | 打谷场 | 打头阵 | 39 | 金钱豹 | 金钥匙 | 69 | 团体操 | 团中央 |
10 | 大气层 | 大动脉 | 40 | 聚光灯 | 聚乙烯 | 70 | 拖拉机 | 拖后腿 |
11 | 大头针 | 大拇指 | 41 | 军功章 | 军大衣 | 71 | 外交官 | 外祖母 |
12 | 大奖赛 | 大提琴 | 42 | 开阔地 | 开眼界 | 72 | 外国人 | 外祖父 |
13 | 单人床 | 单方面 | 43 | 开幕式 | 开玩笑 | 73 | 无产者 | 无党派 |
14 | 单身汉 | 单相思 | 44 | 看守所 | 看热闹 | 74 | 无线电 | 无意识 |
15 | 得益于 | 得人心 | 45 | 拉丁文 | 拉关系 | 75 | 心脏病 | 心血管 |
16 | 电影院 | 电冰箱 | 46 | 老龄化 | 老丈人 | 76 | 亚麻布 | 亚热带 |
17 | 电线杆 | 电风扇 | 47 | 脑膜炎 | 脑血栓 | 77 | 眼镜蛇 | 眼睫毛 |
18 | 动力学 | 动真格 | 48 | 内陆河 | 内蒙古 | 78 | 英雄榜 | 英联邦 |
19 | 多元化 | 多一半 | 49 | 农业局 | 农作物 | 79 | 有心人 | 有意思 |
20 | 多样化 | 多方位 | 50 | 偏执狂 | 偏心眼 | 80 | 有效期 | 有时候 |
21 | 发烧友 | 发脾气 | 51 | 曲棍球 | 曲别针 | 81 | 原子能 | 原材料 |
22 | 翻译家 | 翻白眼 | 52 | 全球性 | 全方位 | 82 | 中学生 | 中世纪 |
23 | 反应堆 | 反作用 | 53 | 热水瓶 | 热处理 | 83 | 中山装 | 中美洲 |
24 | 反动派 | 反革命 | 54 | 热水袋 | 热心肠 | 84 | 重头戏 | 重工业 |
25 | 负责人 | 负离子 | 55 | 山水画 | 山旮旯 | 85 | 重要性 | 重武器 |
26 | 感染力 | 感兴趣 | 56 | 山地车 | 山大王 | 86 | 主力军 | 主旋律 |
27 | 干果店 | 干儿子 | 57 | 伤病员 | 伤脑筋 | 87 | 主席团 | 主考官 |
28 | 高中生 | 高血压 | 58 | 少壮派 | 少东家 | 88 | 总统府 | 总领事 |
29 | 公安部 | 公积金 | 59 | 市场化 | 市辖区 | |||
30 | 共同体 | 共存亡 | 60 | 手术台 | 手榴弹 |
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Luo, Y., Tan, D. & Yan, M. Morphological structure influences saccade generation in Chinese reading. Read Writ 36, 1339–1355 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11145-022-10325-y
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11145-022-10325-y