The Influence Factors On The Predictability Effect In Chinese Context Reading

In the present study,eye tracking technology was used to investigate the predictability effect in Chinese reading.Previous researches show that the important role of predictability in the process of language processing.In recent studies,researchers' focus has shifted away from the existence of the predictability effect in language processing to the predictability is how to happen,the content of the predictability,and the neural mechanism(Van Petten & Luka,2012;Delong,Troyer,& Kutas,2014).The present study focuses on the question of “what”: What factors affect the predictability effect in reading.The factors affecting word recognition can be mainly divided into three categories: visual factors,lexical factors and contextual factors(Kliegl,Grabner,Rolfs,& Engbert,2004).In this study,three factors including stroke number,word frequency and context constraint were selected to explore the influence of different types of factors on the predictability effect in the reading.In experiment 1,the predictability and stroke number of target words were manipulated at the same time to explore the common influence of predictability and stroke number on word recognition.Based on this,this paper discusses whether stroke number affects the predictability effect and whether predictability effect plays a role in the pre-lexical stage.Only the main effect of predictability and stroke number was found,but the interaction of predictability and stroke number was not found,indicating that the predictability effect and stroke number effect will independently act on word recognition processing.The results show that the stroke number has no effect on the predictability effect,and the predictability maybe independently occur to the pre-lexical stage.In experiment 2,the predictability and word frequency of target words were manipulated simultaneously to explore the common influence of predictability and word frequency on word recognition.Based on this,this paper discusses whether word frequency affects the predictability effect and whether predictability effect plays a role in the lexical stage.It was assumed that there was no interaction between predictability and word frequency.Only the main effects of predictability and word frequency were found,but the interaction of predictability and stroke number was not found,which was consistent with the original experimental hypothesis.The results show that the word frequency has no effect on the predictability effect,and the predictability maybe independently occur to the lexical stage.In experiment 3,the predictability and context constraint were manipulated simultaneously to explore the common influence of predictability and context constraint on word recognition and whether there is a prediction error cost.In experiment 3a,the target word was plausible in sentences,while in experiment 3b,the low predictable target word was implausible in sentences in order to distinguish the predictability effect and semantic integration effect.The results of experiment 3a showed that the fixation time of the high predictable words in the high context constraint was shorter than that in the low context constraint,and the fixation time of the low predictable words in the high context constraint was longer than that in the low context constraint.The results of experiment 3b showed that the fixation time of the high predictable words in the high context constraint was shorter than that in the low context constraint,and the fixation time of the low predictable and implausible words in the high context constraint was longer than that in the low context constraint.To sum up,these results indicate that context constraint will promote the recognition of high predictable words,while context constraint will hinder the recognition of low predictable words,reflecting the prediction error cost.The results of the two experiments show that context constraint will affect the predictability effect in the reading process,and only there is a predictability effect in the high constraint context,and there is no predictability effect in the low constraint context.There is a prediction error cost effect in Chinese reading,indicating that the readers can predict the specific words in reading.To sum up,the results of this study show that there are significant effect of predictability,word frequency and stroke number in Chinese reading,and the fixation time of high predictable words is significantly shorter than that of low predictable words.High frequency words have short fixation time,high skip rate,and are easier to process.Words with more strokes are more visually complex,less likely to be skipped,and take longer to process.Predictability,stroke number and word frequency independently affect the process of word recognition.There is an interaction between predictability and context constraint,which will act together on the process of word recognition.Visual factors and lexical factors had no effect on the predictability effect,while contextual factors significantly influenced the predictability effect,which indicates that the predictability effect did not happen on the word level,but the effect occurred on the semantic level.This study is the first study to find the prediction error cost in Chinese normal reading.In the process of sentence reading,when the target word is not the predictable word,the processing of readers will be more difficult,and this process is affected by the level of preview processing.The results are consistent with the assumptions of lexical prediction model and prediction by production model.