Hayashi M, Kayamoto Y, Tanaka H, Yamada J
Faculty of Integrated Arts and Sciences, Hiroshima University, Japan.
Percept Mot Skills. 1998 Apr;86(2):375-82. doi: 10.2466/pms.1998.86.2.375.
In a character-judgment paradigm, the subject quickly pressed a key when a hiragana (Japanese syllabary) appeared on a display and did nothing when a kanji (Japanese logograph) appeared. The amplitude of the N400 component was compared when four types of visual stimuli were used: (Type 1) single kanji--Grade 1- to 3-level words, (Type 2) single kanji--Grade 1- to 3-level bound morphemes, (Type 3) single kanji--high school- and college-level bound morphemes, and (Type 4) obsolete kanji. Analysis showed that N400 was largest in the temporal-occipital areas for the Type 1 stimuli and larger in the right parietal area for Type 2 than Type 3 stimuli. The analyses of N400 to semantic stimulations have been conducted and discussed in terms of their meaningfulness, age when writing of these kanji was mastered, and linguistic status (kanji versus nonkanji). Most interestingly, the Types 3 and 4 kanji did not activate semantic responses, showing that they did not function as linguistic units, i.e., kanji, in the mental lexicon.
在一个性格判断范式中，当平假名（日语音节表）出现在显示屏上时，受试者迅速按键，而当汉字（日语表意文字）出现时则不做任何动作。当使用四种视觉刺激时，对N400成分的振幅进行了比较：（类型1）单个汉字——1至3级词汇，（类型2）单个汉字——1至3级粘着语素，（类型3）单个汉字——高中和大学水平的粘着语素，以及（类型4）废弃汉字。分析表明，对于类型1刺激，N400在颞枕区最大，对于类型2刺激，N400在右顶叶区域比类型3刺激时更大。已经根据其意义、掌握这些汉字书写的年龄以及语言地位（汉字与非汉字）对N400对语义刺激进行了分析和讨论。最有趣的是，类型3和4的汉字没有激活语义反应，这表明它们在心理词典中不作为语言单位，即汉字起作用。
