An Eye Movement Study On The Effect Of Word Presentation Across Lines In Chinese Readin

It has been found that fixation durations were longer,and return-sweep launch and landing positions were closer to line margin in the line-final word boundary condition than in the dividedword condition,defined as the divided-word effect.This paper including three studies want to explore the factors influencing the divided-word effect,and the possibility of visual salience reducing oculomotor error accompanied by return-sweep targeting.The first study with four experiments examined the influences of word difficulty on the divided-word effect.Experiment 1 investigated the influence of word frequency on the divided-word effect using a 2(presentation condition: line-final word boundary vs.divided-word)× 2(word frequency:high vs.low)within-subject repeated measures design.The results indicated that the main effect of presentation condition was significant for gaze duration,total fixation duration,the number of fixations,return-sweep launch and landing position,and corrective saccade probability.Specifically,fixation durations were longer,and return-sweep launch and landing positions were closer to line margin in the line-final word boundary condition than in the divided-word condition.The interaction between presentation condition and word frequency was significant in returnsweep launch position.The interaction was due to the divided-word effect being larger for the high-frequency condition than for the low-frequency condition.Experiment 2 explored whether the divided-word effect was due to less parafoveal preview benefits in the divided-word condition than in the line-final word boundary.The results showed that total fixation durations were longer,and number of fixations was greater for the divided-word condition than for both the line-final word boundary and the line-final word boundary condition.These results demonstrate that longer reading time for the divided-word result from disruption of whole processing rather than less parafoveal preview benefits when dividing a word across two lines.Experiment 3 explored the influence of word predictability on the divided-word effect using a 2(presentation condition: line-final word boundary vs.divided-word)× 2(word predictability:high vs.low)within-subject repeated measures design.The results indicated that the interaction between presentation condition and word predictability was significant for return-sweep launch position,due to larger divided-word effects for low-predictable words than for high-predictable words.Experiment 4 explored the influence of visual complexity on the divided-word effect using a3(presentation condition: line-final word boundary,divided-word,line-begin word boundary)× 2(visual complexity: high vs.low)within-subject repeated measures design.The results indicated that the interaction between presentation condition and visual complexity was significant for total fixation duration,due to larger divided-word effects for low-complexity words than for highcomplexity words.The second study aimed to explore the influence of reading mode on the divided-word effect.Experiment 5 adopted a 2(presentation condition: line-final word boundary vs.divided-word)× 2(word frequency: high vs.low)× 2(reading mode: silent vs.oral)within-subject repeated measures design.The results showed that the interaction between presentation condition and reading mode was significant in gaze duration,total fixation duration,number of fixations,returnsweep launch position,with larger divided-word effects in oral reading than in silent reading.The need to pronounce words and monitor what they are reading increases working memory load when reading aloud.Because readers need to store the first part of a divided word in the working memory,this may induce larger divided-word effects in oral reading.The third study investigated whether visual salience of line-initial character reduces oculomotor error of return-sweeps.Experiment 6 adopted a 2(presentation condition: line-final word boundary vs.divided-word)× 2(visual salience: bold vs.normal)within-subject design.The results found that return-sweep landing position was closer to the left margin and corrective saccade probability was less likely in the bold compared to in the normal condition.These results suggest that the bolding manipulation reduces oculomotor error of return-sweeps,but increases reading time.Taken together,the conclusions are as follows:(1)There exists divided-word effect in Chinese reading.This effect results from the disruption of holistic processing rather than less parafoveal preview benefits.Word frequency and word predictability affect the divided-word effect in return-sweep launch position,and visual complexity influences the divided-word effect in total fixation duration.(2)Reading mode influences the divided-word effect.The divided-word effect is larger in oral reading than in silent reading.(3)The bolding manipulation of line-initial character reduces oculomotor error of returnsweeps,but increases reading time.