Orthographic,Semantic,and Contextual Influences on Initial Processing and Learning of Novel Words During Reading:Evidence From Eye Movements

This study investigates how orthographic,semantic and contextual variables—including word length,concreteness,and contextual support—impact on the processing and learning of new words in a second language(L2)when first encountered during reading.Students learning English as a foreign language(EFL)were recruited to read sentences for comprehension,embedded with unfamiliar L2 words that occurred once.Immediately after this,they received a form recognition test,a meaning recall test,and a meaning recognition test.Eye-movement data showed significant effects of word length on both early and late processing of novel words,along with effects of concreteness only on late-processing eye-tracking measures.Informative contexts were read slower than neutral contexts,yet contextual support did not show any direct influence on the processing of novel words.Interestingly,initial learning of abstract words was better than concrete words in terms of form and meaning recognition.Attentional processing of novel L2 words,operationalized by total reading time,positively predicted L2 learners’recognition of new orthographic forms.Taken together,these results suggest:1)orthographic,semantic and contextual factors play distinct roles for initial processing and learning of novel words;2)online processing of novel words contributes to L2 learners’initial knowledge of unfamiliar lexical items acquired from reading.

Algorithm of the Real-Time Extraction Image for Vehicle

An algorithm applied to a real-time extraction image of vehicle is introduced. The algorithm include an image processing with a binarzation method, image grab for a vehicle with high speed, character isolator one by one, and neural network algorithm. The techniques include vehicles sensing, image garb control, vehicle license location, lighting and optic character recognition. The system is much more robust and faster than the traditional thresholding method.

Chinese EFL Learners' Actual Word Processing and Lexical Learning in Performing a Collaborative Output Task

The word processing depth hypothesis implies a positive association between learners＇ word processing and their lexical learning. In research, learners＇ task-inherent involvement load （i.e., word processing） has not been found to be consistently associated with their lexical learning. Meanwhile, existing studies have not obtained consensus results, either, from directly associating learners＇ actual word processing and their lexical learning. Against this backdrop, this paper reports a study investigating the association between Chinese EFL learners＇ actual word processing and their lexical learning in performing a collaborative oral output task. Interactional and statistical analyses revealed that the participants engaged in four types of word processing; their overall word processing was significantly correlated with both their productive and receptive word acquisition and retention; their different types of word processing were significantly correlated with their productive word learning, but showed variances in correlations with their receptive word learning. The findings were discussed from the perspectives of word processing in collaborative output, word processing and lexical learning, and word processing and different modes of lexical learning.

Chinese word processing in nonfluent aphasic patients

Background Chinese nonfluent aphasic patients experience apparent speech production deficit, but it remains less known in which part of Chinese speech production this deficit occurs. The present study aimed to examine the ability of nonfluent aphasic patients in Chinese orthography, phonological and semantic processing via two experiments. Experiment I disclosed the general pattern of deficit of Chinese nonfluent aphasic patients in speech production. Experiment II tested whether this deficit occurs in orthography, phonological or semantic processing. Methods The present study adopted neuropsychological testing methods to compare speech production and Chinese word processing between nonfluent aphasic patients （the patient group） and normal individuals （the control group）. Character reading and word reading tasks were used to test speech production. Chinese radical decision, rhyme decision and semantic decision tasks were used to examine word processing. Reaction time and the correct answer rate were collected. Results The patient group had a longer reaction time and was more prone to errors in both character reading and word reading tasks than was the control group. For the patient group, there was no difference between the reaction time of character reading and word reading, the error rate of the former was higher than the latter. In radical decision task the reaction time and error rate to the radical ＂木＂ were higher in the patient group than in the control group. In the rhyme decision task, the reaction time and error rate to the rhyme ＂ang＂ were higher for the aphasic patients. In the semantic decision task the reaction time to characters in the category of animals was higher for the aphasic patients, yet the error rate was not significantly different between the two groups. Conclusions Nonfluent aphasic patients seemingly have decreased speed of speech production and an increased error rate. There is a deficit in phonological processing of aphasic patients while their semantic processing may remain intact.

Vernier But Not Grating Acuity Contributes to an Early Stage of Visual Word Processing

The process of reading words depends heavily on efficient visual skills, including analyzing and decomposing basic visual features. Surprisingly, previous reading-related studies have almost exclusively focused on gross aspects of visual skills, while only very few have investigated the role of finer skills. The present study filled this gap and examined the relations of two finer visual skills measured by grating acuity（the ability to resolve periodic luminance variations across space） and Vernier acuity（the ability to detect/discriminate relative locations of features） to Chinese character-processing as measured by character form-matching and lexical decision tasks in skilled adult readers. The results showed that Vernier acuity was significantly correlated with performance in character form-matching but not visual symbol formmatching, while no correlation was found between grating acuity and character processing. Interestingly, we found no correlation of the two visual skills with lexical decisionperformance. These findings provide for the first time empirical evidence that the finer visual skills, particularly as reflected in Vernier acuity, may directly contribute to an early stage of hierarchical word processing.

Word Segmentation Based on Database Semantics in NChiql

In this paper a novel word-segmentation algorithm is presented todelimit words in Chinese natural language queries in NChiql system, a Chinese natural language query interface to databases. Although there are sizable literatureson Chinese segmentation, they cannot satisfy particular requirements in this system. The novel word-segmentation algorithm is based on the database semantics,namely Semantic Conceptual Model (SCM) for specific domain knowledge. Basedon SCM, the segmenter labels the database semantics to words directly, which easesthe disambiguation and translation (from natural language to database query) inNChiql.