An Eye Movement Study On The Perceptual Span In Reading Tibetan Language

Tibetan is very unique that on the one hand it is alphabetic writing,and on the other hand it also belongs to the Chinese and Tibetan language system.That is,the Tibetan embodies the characteristic of both phonetic and ideographic.However,few cognitive studies have researched this unique language,that is to say,the core of Tibetan language learning and use,namely,the brain cognitive structure underlying the Tibetan language is not clear.Therefore,this study will be carried out from the perspective of cognitive language reading.The perceptual span of reading is the most basic problem in the study of reading,and it is also of great practical significance.The breadth of reading comprehension refers to the maximum range that a reader can obtain useful information in the process of reading.The perceptual span of reading is affected by many factors,such as different language writing system,reader's age,the difficulty of reading materials,working memory capacity and reading ability.Eye tracker is an important tool to study the reading process,and the moving window paradigm is classic paradigm using eye tracker to study the perceptual span of reading,this paradigm is manipulating the size of the window to accurately control the reader which can obtain information from each fixation extent,size and scope of vision.When readers set the window to get the most effective information,eye movement index perceptual span in reading in the reaction on the window between the normal reading condition and there will be no difference;on the other hand,there are differences between the window and the normal reading condition,and further affect the normal readers' reading activities.The Tibetan characteristics of both phonetic and ideographic.So,whether it is closer to the perceptual span in reading alphabetic writing,or closer to the ideograph,which can not be simply determined according to the existing research.In addition,it is also need to explore which factors will influence the Tibetan language perceptual span in reading.Therefore,this study will use the Tibetan language as reading material,the eye tracker for recording tool,using the moving window paradigm,setting method of symmetrical window,through the window set of different sizes,to explore the factors of Tibetan development characteristics of the perceptual span in reading and its influence factors,to reveal the internal cognitive mechanisms of Tibetan language reading.This study consists of three parts with a total of 8 experiments.In the first study,we explored the visual window setting in the moving window paradigm.The main purpose is to explore the possibility of usage of eye movements and mobile window paradigm in studies of Tibetan perceptual span in reading,and to try to probe the possible range of Tibetan perceptual span in reading.An experiment was included in the first study.In this experiment,we tried to figure out the size of perceptual span in Tibetan reading,the eye tracker and the moving window paradigm was used in 35 Tibetan students as subjects When they read the Tibetan language materials(fifth grade primary school level).In this experiment,a single factor with 7 levels was designed within subjects design,the 7 level is 7 kinds of different sizes(visible window L2R2,L4R4,L6R6,L8R8,L10R10,L12R12 and whole line).We found that the L2R2-L12R12 had significant differences in all indexes of observation value;the L4R4-L12R12 had significant difference on the total observation times,fixation time,and right saccade amplitude value;there was a significant difference on L6R6-L12R12 in the observation to the right eye jump amplitude index value;there are no significant differences on L8R8-L12R12 value in all observation index but with a benchmark level.Presumably,the right side range of the perceptual span in reading Tibetan Language is about 4 to 8 characters of space on the right side of the fixation point.In the second study,we aimed to research on the development of the perceptual span of Tibetan reading.We control the influence of the familiar of materials,to let the subjects of different ages read materials corresponding to their age level,to find out the development characteristics of the perceptual span of Tibetan language reading.In total of four experiments were included.In Experiment 2,with the same tools,we researched the perceptual span of 34 Tibetan students in the third grade primary school.These subjects were asked to read Tibetan language materials with the third grade primary school level,the experimental design is the same to experiment 1.We found that the L2R2-L12R12 and L4R4-L12R12 conditions had significant differences in the observation to the right eye jump amplitude index value;there were no significantly different on the L8R8-L12R12 condition in all observation index values.Presumably,the right side range of the perceptual span in Tibetan reading of the third grade primary school students' is about 4 to 8 character space on the right side of the fixation point.In Experiment 3,in order to explore the size of perceptual span in reading on the Tibetan students in the fifth grade primary school,we used the same tool and the same experimental design to the above 2 experiments to 28 students in Tibetan primary school When they were asked to read the Tibetan language materials on the fifth grade primary school level.The results showed that L2R2-L12R12 had significant differences in all indexes.The right eye jump amplitude index value were significant on the L4R4-L12R12;L6R6-L12R12 in all observation index values are not significantly different,but reached the benchmark level.Presumably,the right side range of the perceptual span of Tibetan reading of the fifth grade primary school students' is about 4 to 6 character space on the right side of the fixation point;In Experiment 4,the perceptual span of Tibetan students in reading in the first grade junior high school were explored.By using the same tool and experimental design,in 35 first grade of Tibetan students in junior high school,we found that the L2R2-L12R12 had significant differences in all indexes;L4R4-L12R12 had significant differences in the observation to the right eye jump amplitude index value;L6R6-L12R12 had not significantly difference in all observation index values,but reached the benchmark level.Presumably,the perceptual span of the first grade junior middle school students' Tibetan reading on the right side of a range of about 4 to 6 character space on the right side of the fixation point;In Experiment 5,we used the same experimental design to further explore the perception scan of Tibetan reading in the Tibetan college students.Here,in total of 28 Tibetan students were used as subjects,the Tibetan materials for reading is related to the undergraduate level.We found that the L2R2-L12R12 had significant differences in all indexes.The L4R4-L12R12 and L6R6-L12R12 conditions had significant differences in the observation to the right eye jump amplitude index value;there were no significant difference on L8R8-L12R12 in all observation index values,but the result of this condition reached reference level.Presumably,the right range of the perceptual span of reading in Tibetan college students is about 4 to 8 characters of space on the right side of the fixation point.In the third study,the influence factors on the perceptual span of Tibetan language reading were explored.We were interesting on the influence of the difficulty of the reading material,reading ability and working memory capacity on the perceptual span of reading.There were three experiments.In Experiment 6,we used the eye tracker as a tool and the moving window paradigm in order to investigate the effects of material difficulty on Tibetan perceptual span in reading.The experimental design is two factors mixed experimental design,2(material difficulty:easy and hard)*5(L2R2,L4R4,L6R6 L8R8,all line).In total of 24 Tibetan college students involved into the present study.It is found that the range of reading for the difficult and easy material is both the about 4 to 6 character space on the right side of the fixation point.However,in the process of reading,for the difficult sentences,the average time is longer,and the total fixation time is longer,than that of the easy sentences;The experimental design in experiment 7 is the same to experiment 6 except for the aim to explore the influence of reading ability on reading scan.Herein,we collected 40 Tibetan college students,according to their entrance examination level,these subjects were divided into two groups with high and low reading ability.Of note,20 people per group.The subjects in the two teams were asked to read the same Tibetan sentences.The results showed that the range of the perceptual span of high and low reading ability subjects was about 4?6 characters on the right side of the eye.However,in the reading process,compared with the low reading ability subjects,the total reading time of the high reading ability subjects is less,the total fixation time is shorter,the reading speed is faster,and the reading distance is larger;In Experiment 8,we finally explore the influence of working memory capacity on the perceptual span of reading in the Tibetan language,the experimental design and tools were the same to experiment 7,except that the group factor is the working memory ability.The Tibetan college students were tested by reading span test,these subjects were divided into two groups with high and low working memory,each group of 20 people.The two teams were asked to read the same Tibetan sentences.We found that the perceptual span of reading was about 4 to 6 character space on the right side of the fixation point on the high and low working memory capacity.However,compared with the low working memory capacity subjects,the subjects with high working memory capacity in reading was less frequently,the reading speed is faster,and the right eye jump is greater.In the case of focusing only on the right side,the main findings can be summarized as follows:(1)The specificity of perceptual span on Tibetan language processing was found that there were difference of perceptual span on Tibetan language with other types of language,the right side range of the perceptual span in reading Tibetan Language is about 4 to 8 characters of space on the right side of the fixation point.(2)The characteristics of Tibetan perceptual span in reading showed changes with age,with the growth of age,the perceptual span exhibits the "U" trend;(3)In the process of Tibetan language reading,the perception span in reading range is similar related to the easy and difficult Tibetan language materials,but the reading efficiency is lower When reading the easy materials When compared that of the difficult materials.In addition,there is no difference between high and low working memory capacity is the perceptual span range,but a higher reading efficiency was reported related to the high working memory capacity that that with low working memory capacity.