• Korean Journal of Cognitive Science
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• v.35 no.2
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• pp.129-159
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• 2024

In the process of reading, readers can process information not only within the fixated region, known as the fovea, but also in the parafoveal region to the right of the fovea. While the parafoveal semantic preview effect has been confirmed in eye-tracking experiments using boundary techniques, research on how the parafoveal preview effects differ depending on the degree of semantic relatedness is still limited. This study investigates the parafoveal preview effects as a function of semantic relatedness with the target word. The experiment utilized Korean-Chinese bilinguals and presented mixed-language sentences as experimental stimuli. Four parafoveal preview conditions were applied to the target words in each sentence: (1) Korean identical condition, where the parafoveal word was the same as the target word (e.g., "나라," meaning "country" in English), (2) Chinese synonymous condition, where the parafoveal word had the same meaning as the target word (e.g., "国家," also meaning "country" in English), (3) Chinese semantically related condition, where the parafoveal word was semantically related to the target word (e.g., "政权," meaning "political power" in English), and (4) Chinese unrelated condition, where the parafoveal word was semantically unrelated to the target word (e.g., "围裙," meaning "apron" in English). The study explored the parafoveal preview effect in terms of the degree of semantic association with the target word. We found the most pronounced preview effect in conditions where the preview and the target word shared the same meaning, and we also observed preview effects in conditions where the semantic relatedness with the target word was relatively weak. This study suggests that the degree of semantic relatedness between the parafoveal preview word and the target word can influence readers' reading processes. It contributes to a better understanding of readers' eye movements and comprehension processes, with potential implications for the development of effective reading strategies and educational methods.

• Korean Journal of Cognitive Science
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• v.34 no.4
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• pp.315-347
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• 2023

This study aimed to investigate the semantic preview effect in the parafoveal processing of words that are presented in advance in the parafoveal area ahead of the fixation point, benefiting word processing in the fovea. Using the boundary technique in eye-tracking experiments, 25 Chinese-Korean bilinguals, whose native language is Chinese, were presented with 96 sentences that contained a mix of Chinese and Korean, where Korean words were associated with Chinese characters semantically. The study aimed to determine whether a semantic preview effect could be extracted in reading. The experimental sentences were divided into four conditions: the same Korean native word condition (e.g., "나라" meaning "country"), the same Korean word with semantic equivalent in Chinese condition (e.g., "국가" meaning "country"), the same Chinese condition with semantic equivalent in Korean (e.g., "国家" meaning "country"), and the unrelated Chinese condition to the target word (e.g., "围裙" meaning "apron"). The results showed a preview effect in both the Korean word and Chinese word conditions, with a larger preview effect observed in the Chinese word condition compared to the Korean word condition.