Mei Xiaolin, Chen Shuyuan, Xia Xinyi, Yang Bo, Liu Yanping
Department of Psychology, Sun Yat-sen University, No. 135, Xingang Xi Road, Guangzhou, 510275, P. R. China.
School of Optometry, The Hong Kong Polytechnic University, Hong Kong, China.
Atten Percept Psychophys. 2025 Jan;87(1):120-132. doi: 10.3758/s13414-024-02894-7. Epub 2024 Jul 12.
Word frequency effect has always been of interest for reading research because of its critical role in exploring mental processing underlying reading behaviors. Access to word frequency information has long been considered an indicator of the beginning of lexical processing and the most sensitive marker for studying when the brain begins to extract semantic information Sereno & Rayner, Brain and Cognition, 42, 78-81, (2000), Trends in Cognitive Sciences, 7, 489-493, (2003). While the word frequency effect has been extensively studied in numerous eye-tracking and traditional EEG research using the RSVP paradigm, there is a lack of corresponding evidence in studies of natural reading. To find the neural correlates of the word frequency effect, we conducted a study of Chinese natural reading using EEG and eye-tracking coregistration to examine the time course of lexical processing. Our results reliably showed that the word frequency effect first appeared in the N200 time window and the bilateral occipitotemporal regions. Additionally, the word frequency effect was reflected in the N400 time window, spreading from the occipital region to the central parietal and frontal regions. Our current study provides the first neural correlates for word-frequency effect in natural Chinese reading so far, shedding new light on understanding lexical processing in natural reading and could serve as an important basis for further reading study when considering neural correlates in a realistic manner.
词频效应一直是阅读研究的关注焦点，因为它在探索阅读行为背后的心理加工过程中起着关键作用。长期以来，获取词频信息一直被视为词汇加工开始的指标，也是研究大脑何时开始提取语义信息的最敏感标志（Sereno和Rayner，《大脑与认知》，42卷，78 - 81页，2000年；《认知科学趋势》，7卷，489 - 493页，2003年）。虽然在众多使用快速序列视觉呈现（RSVP）范式的眼动追踪和传统脑电图研究中，词频效应已得到广泛研究，但在自然阅读研究中却缺乏相应证据。为了找到词频效应的神经关联，我们使用脑电图和眼动追踪同步技术对中文自然阅读进行了一项研究，以考察词汇加工的时间进程。我们的结果可靠地表明，词频效应首先出现在N200时间窗口和双侧枕颞区。此外，词频效应在N400时间窗口中也有体现，从枕区扩散到中央顶叶和额叶区域。我们目前的研究首次为中文自然阅读中的词频效应提供了神经关联，为理解自然阅读中的词汇加工提供了新的视角，并在以现实方式考虑神经关联时，可为进一步的阅读研究提供重要依据。
