Poster No:
818
Submission Type:
Abstract Submission
Authors:
Yanjun Wei1, Jing Li1, Qingfeng Fan1, Manuel Carreiras2
Institutions:
1Beijing Language and Culture University, Beijing, China, 2Basque Center on Cognition, Brain and Language, San Sebastian, Spain
First Author:
Yanjun Wei
Beijing Language and Culture University
Beijing, China
Co-Author(s):
Jing Li
Beijing Language and Culture University
Beijing, China
Qingfeng Fan
Beijing Language and Culture University
Beijing, China
Manuel Carreiras
Basque Center on Cognition, Brain and Language
San Sebastian, Spain
Introduction:
Compared to alphabetic languages, Chinese characters exhibit a high level of opaqueness in their orthographic-to-phonological mapping, which may lead to phonological processing occurring later than orthographic processing. The large number of homophones and polyphones in Chinese allows for a clear dissociation of orthographic and phonological effects. Additionally, EEG provides an effective tool for investigating the temporal dynamics of orthographic and phonological processing during Chinese compound word recognition.
Methods:
Our study employed a masked priming paradigm with a lexical decision task. The manipulation involved orthographic (same vs. different) and phonological (same vs. different) relationships of the initial or final character between the prime and the target word. Four conditions were created for identical targets (e.g., 会所, /hui4suo3/, "clubhouse"): (1) O+P-: orthographically identical but phonologically different (e.g., 会计, /kuai4ji4/, "accounting"); (2) O+P+: both orthographically and phonologically identical (e.g., 会诊, /hui4zhen3/, "consultation"), serving as a baseline for O+P-; (3) O-P-: both orthographically and phonologically different (e.g., 山民, /shan1min2/, "mountain-dweller"); and (4) O-P+: orthographically different but phonologically identical (e.g., 汇总, /hui4zong3/, "summarization"), serving as a baseline for O-P-. Primes were presented for 50 ms, and participants performed a lexical decision task. Behavioral data, including reaction times and error rates, were analyzed using linear mixed-effects models, while ERP data were analyzed using average amplitudes across three time windows (150-250 ms, 300-400 ms, and 500-600 ms). A 2 (orthography: same, different) × 2 (phonology: same, different) × 3 (region: anterior, central, posterior) × 2 (hemisphere: left, right) repeated measures ANOVA was conducted to examine the temporal dynamics of orthographic and phonological processing.
Results:
The mixed-effects model analysis revealed significant main effects of orthography and phonology at the 50 ms prime duration, with no significant interaction. ERP results showed that orthographic processing was activated early, as indicated by increased P200 amplitudes in the 150-250 ms window, and continued to influence semantic processing in the 300-400 ms window, reflected in the N400 component. By the 500-600 ms window, the orthographic effect had disappeared, while an interaction between orthography and phonology emerged. Specifically, the O+P- condition elicited larger positive amplitudes than the O+P+ condition, whereas no such difference was observed between the O-P- and O-P+ conditions. This pattern suggests that early orthographic activation facilitates phonological processing at a later stage.
Conclusions:
Our study suggests that in opaque writing systems like Chinese, phonological processing is delayed and influenced by orthographic information.
Language:
Reading and Writing 1
Novel Imaging Acquisition Methods:
EEG 2
Keywords:
Cognition
Electroencephaolography (EEG)
Language
Other - reading, orthography, phonology
1|2Indicates the priority used for review
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Were any human subjects research approved by the relevant Institutional Review Board or ethics panel?
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