Hostname: page-component-7c8c6479df-24hb2 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-03-27T15:29:37.997Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

Effects of age of acquisition and semantic transparency on reading characters in Chinese dyslexia

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  27 August 2010

SAM-PO LAW*
Affiliation:
University of Hong Kong
OLIVIA YEUNG
Affiliation:
University of Hong Kong
*
ADDRESS FOR CORRESPONDENCE Sam-Po Law, Division of Speech and Hearing Sciences, University of Hong Kong, Pokfulam Road, Hong Kong, Special Administrative Region, People's Republic of China. E-mail: splaw@hkucc.hku.hk

Abstract

This study examined the effects of the age of acquisition (AOA) and semantic transparency on the reading aloud ability of a Chinese dyslexic individual, TWT, who relied on the semantic pathway to name characters. Both AOA and semantic transparency significantly predicted naming accuracy and distinguished the occurrence of correct responses and semantic errors from other errors. A post hoc analysis of subsets of items orthogonally varied in the AOA and semantic transparency revealed an interaction between the two variables. These findings converge on reports of AOA and semantic effects on deep dyslexic individuals reading alphabetic scripts. The case of TWT, together with recent results of another Chinese dyslexic individual who reads via the nonsemantic route and exhibits the effects of AOA and phonological consistency, supports the arbitrary mapping hypothesis, which states that the AOA effect resides in the connection between two levels of representation.

Type
Articles
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2010

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

REFERENCES

Barry, C., & Gerhand, S. (2003). Both concreteness and age-of-acquisition affect reading accuracy but only concreteness affects comprehension in a deep dyslexic patient. Brain and Language, 84, 84104.Google Scholar
Belke, E., Brysbaert, M., Meyer, A. S., & Ghyselinck, M. (2005). Age of acquisition effects in picture naming: Evidence for a lexical–semantic competition hypothesis. Cognition, 96, B45B54.Google Scholar
Bonin, P., Barry, C., Meot, A., & Chalard, M. (2004). The influence of age of acquisition in word reading and other tasks: A never ending story? Journal of Memory and Language, 50, 456476.Google Scholar
Brown, G. D. A., & Watson, F. L. (1987). First in, first out: Word learning age and spoken word frequency as predictors of word familiarity and word naming latency. Memory & Cognition, 15, 208216.Google Scholar
Brysbaert, M., & Ghyselinck, M. (2006). The effect of age of acquisition: Partly frequency related, partly frequently independent. Visual Cognition, 13, 9921011.Google Scholar
Brysbaert, M., Lange, M., & Van Wijnendaele, I. (2000). The effects of age-of-acquisition and frequency of occurrence in visual word recognition: Further evidence from the Dutch language. European Journal of Cognitive Psychology, 12, 6585.Google Scholar
Brysbaert, M., Van Wijnendaele, I., & De Deyne, S. (2000). Age-of-acquisition effects in semantic processing tasks. Acta Psychologica, 104, 215226.Google Scholar
Caramazza, A., & Hillis, A. (1990). Where do semantic errors come from? Cortex, 26, 95122.Google Scholar
Chalard, M., Bonin, P., Meot, A., Boywer, B., & Fayol, M. (2004). Objective age-of-acquisition (AoA) norms for a set of 230 object names in French: Relationships with other variables used in psycholinguistic experiments, the English data from Morrison et al. (1997) and naming latencies. European Journal of Cognitive Psychology, 15, 209245.Google Scholar
Chen, B. G., Dent, K., You, W. P., & Wu, G. L. (2009). Age of acquisition affects early orthographic processing during Chinese character recognition. Acta Psychologica, 130, 196203.Google Scholar
Chen, B. G., Zhou, H. X., Dunlap, S., & Perfetti, C. A. (2007). Age of acquisition effects in reading Chinese: Evidence in favour of the arbitrary mapping hypothesis. British Journal of Psychology, 98, 499516.Google Scholar
Chen, M. J., & Weekes, B. S. (2004). Effects of semantic radicals on Chinese character categorization and character decision. Chinese Journal of Psychology, 46, 181196.Google Scholar
Cheung, Y.-S., & Chan, S.-D. (1997). Contemporary varieties of Chinese as found in Hong Kong, Taiwan, Mainland: A study of lexical difference established through analysis of a composite corpus from regional print media. Hong Kong: Research Grant Council.Google Scholar
Chiarello, C., Shears, C., & Lund, K. (1999). Imageability and distributional typicality measures of nouns and verbs in contemporary English. Behavior Research Methods, Instruments, and Computers, 31, 603637.Google Scholar
Coltheart, M. (1980). The semantic error: Types and theories. In Coltheart, M., Patterson, K., & Marshall, J. C. (Eds.), Deep dyslexia (pp. 146159). London: Routledge & Kegan Paul.Google Scholar
Ding, G., Peng, D., & Taft, M. (2004). The nature of the mental representation of radicals in Chinese: A priming study. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory, and Cognition, 30, 530539.Google Scholar
Ellis, A. W., & Lambon Ralph, M. A. (2000). Age of acquisition effects in adult lexical processing reflect loss of plasticity in maturing systems: Insights from connectionist networks. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory, and Cognition, 26, 11031123.Google Scholar
Fang, S.-P., Horng, R.-Y., & Tzeng, O. J. L. (1986). Consistency effects in the Chinese characters and pseudo-character naming tasks. In Kao, H. S. R. & Hoosain, R. (Eds.), Linguistics, psychology, and the Chinese language (pp. 1121). Hong Kong: University of Hong Kong, Centre of Asian Studies.Google Scholar
Feldman, L. B., & Siok, W. W. T. (1997). The role of component function in visual recognition of Chinese characters. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory, and Cognition, 23, 776781.Google Scholar
Feldman, L. B., & Siok, W. W. T. (1999). Semantic radicals contribute to the visual identification of Chinese characters. Journal of Memory and Language, 40, 559576.Google Scholar
Gerhand, S., & Barry, C. (1999). Age of acquisition, word frequency and the role of phonology in the lexical decision task. Memory & Cognition, 27, 592602.Google Scholar
Gerhand, S., & Barry, C. (2000). When does a deep dyslexic make a semantic error? The roles of age-of-acquisition, concreteness, and frequency. Brain and Language, 74, 2647.Google Scholar
Ghyselinck, M., Lewis, M. B., & Brysbaert, M. (2004). Age of acquisition and the cumulative frequency hypothesis: A review of the literature and a new multi-task investigation. Acta Psychologica, 115, 4367.Google Scholar
Gilhooly, K. J., & Gihooly, M. L. (1979). Age-of-acquisition effects in lexical and episodic memory tasks. Memory & Cognition, 7, 214223.Google Scholar
Gilhooly, K. J., & Logie, R. H. (1980). Age-of-acquisition, imagery, concreteness, familiarity, and ambiguity measures for 1,944 words. Behavior Research Methods and Instrumentation, 12, 395427.Google Scholar
Han, Z., Bi, Y., Shu, H., & Weekes, B. (2005). The interaction between semantic and sublexical routes in reading: Converging evidence from Chinese. Brain and Language, 95, 235236.Google Scholar
Havelka, J., & Tomita, I. (2006). Age of acquisition in naming Japanese words. Visual Cognition, 13, 981991.Google Scholar
Hirsh, K. W., & Ellis, E. W. (1994). Age of acquisition and lexical processing in Aphasia. Cognitive Neuropsychology, 11, 435458.Google Scholar
Ho, K. (1992). Cantonese frequent words pronunciation dictionary. Hong Kong: Hong Kong Education Department, Chinese Division, Institute of Education in Language.Google Scholar
Holmes, S. J., & Ellis, A. W. (2006). Age of acquisition and typicality effects in three object processing tasks. Visual Cognition, 13, 884910.Google Scholar
Howard, D., & Patterson, K. (1992). Pyramids and Palm Trees Test. Edmunds: Thames Valley Test Company.Google Scholar
Hue, C. W. (1992). Recognition processes in character naming. In Chen, H.-C. & Tzeng, O. J. L. (Eds.), Language processing in Chinese (pp. 93107). Amsterdam: North-Holland.Google Scholar
Hue, C.-W., & Erickson, J. R. (1988). Naming and lexical decisions for Chinese characters. Paper presented at the Midwestern Psychological Association, Chicago.Google Scholar
Johnston, R. A., & Barry, C. (2006). Age of acquisition and lexical processing. Visual Cognition, 13, 789845.Google Scholar
Jorm, A. F. (1991). The validity of word age-of-acquisition ratings: A longitudinal study of a child's word knowledge. British Journal of Psychology, 9, 437444.Google Scholar
Juhasz, B. J. (2005). Age-of-acquisition effects in word and picture identification. Psychological Bulletin, 131, 684712.Google Scholar
Lambon Ralph, M. A., & Ehsan, S. (2006). Age of acquisition effects depend on the mapping between representations and the frequency of occurrence: Empirical and computational evidence. Visual Cognition, 13, 928948.Google Scholar
Law, S.-P. (1997). The role of the phonetic radical in constructing Chinese logographs: Data from Cantonese colloquial characters. Poster presented at the Symposium on Brain, Cognition, and Communication at the 8th International Conference on Cognitive Processing of Asian Languages, Nagoya, Japan.Google Scholar
Law, S.-P. (2004a). A morphological analysis of object naming and reading errors by a Cantonese dyslexic patient. Language and Cognitive Processes, 19, 473501.Google Scholar
Law, S.-P. (2004b). Writing errors of a Cantonese dysgraphic patient and their theoretical implications. Neurocase, 10, 132140.Google Scholar
Law, S.-P. (2004c). Impairment to phonological processes in a Cantonese-speaking brain-damaged patient. Aphasiology, 18, 373388.Google Scholar
Law, S.-P., & Caramazza, A. (1995). Cognitive processes in writing Chinese characters: basic issues and some preliminary data. In de Gelder, B. & Morais, J. (Eds.), Speech and reading: A comparative approach (pp. 143190). Hove: Psychology Press.Google Scholar
Law, S.-P., Weekes, B. S., Wong, W., & Chiu, K. (2009). Reading aloud pseudo-characters by individuals with acquired dyslexia: Evidence for lexically-mediated processes in reading Chinese. Language and Cognitive Processes, 24, 9831008.Google Scholar
Law, S.-P., Weekes, B. S., Yeung, O., & Chiu, K. (2009). Age of acquisition effects on picture naming in Chinese anomia. In Law, S.-P., Weekes, B. S., & Wong, A. (Eds.), Language disorders in speakers of Chinese. Clevedon: Multilingual Matters.Google Scholar
Law, S.-P., & Wong, R. (2005). A model-driven treatment of a Cantonese-speaking dyslexic patient with impairment to the semantic and non-semantic pathways. Cognitive Neuropsychology, 22, 95110.Google Scholar
Law, S.-P., Wong, W., Yeung, O., & Weekes, B. S. (2008). The effect of age-of-acquisition on reading aloud in Chinese dyslexia. Neurocase, 14, 276289.Google Scholar
Law, S.-P., Yeung, O., Wong, W., & Chiu, K. M.-Y. (2005). Processing of semantic radicals in writing Chinese characters: Data from a Chinese dysgraphic patient. Cognitive Neuropsychology, 22, 885903.Google Scholar
Lee, C.-Y., Tsai, J.-L., Su, E. C.-I., Tzeng, O. J. L., & Hung, D. L. (2005). Consistency, regularity, and frequency effects in naming Chinese characters. Language and Linguistics, 6, 75107.Google Scholar
Levelt, W. J. M. (1989). Speaking: From intention to articulation. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.Google Scholar
Lewis, M. B. (1999). Age of acquisition in face categorization: Is there an instance-based account? Cognition, 71, B23B39.Google Scholar
Li, H., & Chen, C.-H. (1999). Radical processing in Chinese character recognition: Evidence from lexical decision. Psychologia, 42, 199208.Google Scholar
Li, X.-J. (2003). Zhonghua gui fan zi dian [Chinese standard dictionary]. Hong Kong: Chung Hwa Book Co. Ltd.Google Scholar
Li, Z.-M. (1989). Lishi zhongwen zidian [Li dictionary of Chinese characters]. Hong Kong: Chinese University Press.Google Scholar
Lian, Y.-W. (1985). An investigation of the processes in character naming in Chinese: The influence of the phonetic component. Unpublished master's thesis, National University of Taiwan, Taipei.Google Scholar
Liu, Y., Hao, M., Shu, H., Tan, L. H., & Weekes, B. S. (2008). Age-of-acquisition effects on oral reading in Chinese. Psychonomic Bulletin & Review, 15, 344350.Google Scholar
Monaghan, J., & Ellis, A. W. (2002a). Age of acquisition and the completeness of phonological representations. Reading and Writing, 15, 759788.Google Scholar
Monaghan, J., & Ellis, A. W. (2002b). What exactly interacts with spelling-sound consistency in word naming? Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory, and Cognition, 28, 183206.Google Scholar
Morrison, C. M., & Ellis, A. W. (1995). Roles of word frequency and age of acquisition in word naming and lexical decision. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory, and Cognition, 21, 116133.Google Scholar
Morrison, C. M., & Ellis, A. W. (2000). Real age of acquisition effects in word naming and lexical decision. British Journal of Psychology, 91, 167180.Google Scholar
Morrison, C. M., Hirsh, K. W., & Duggan, G. B. (2003). Age of acquisition, ageing, and verb production: Normative and experimental data. Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology, 56A, 705730.Google Scholar
Morton, J., & Patterson, K. E. (1980). A new attempt at an interpretation, or an attempt at a new interpretation. In Coltheart, M., Patterson, K., & Marshall, J. C. (Eds.), Deep dyslexia (pp. 91118). London: Routledge & Kegan Paul.Google Scholar
Ni, H.-S. (1982). Xiandai Hanzi xingshengzi zihui [Contemporary Chinese phonetic compound list]. Beijing: Yuwen Chubanzhe.Google Scholar
Raman, I. (2006). On the age-of-acquisition effects in word naming and orthographic transparency: Mapping specific or universal? Visual Cognition, 13, 10441053.Google Scholar
Riddoch, M. J., & Humphreys, G. W. (1993). Birmingham Object Recognition Battery. Hove: Erlbaum.Google Scholar
Seidenberg, M. S. (1985). The time course of phonological code activation in two writing systems. Cognition, 19, 130.Google Scholar
Shibahara, N., & Kondo, T. (2002). Variables affecting naming latency for Japanese Kanji: A re-analysis of Yamazaki et al. (1997). Perceptual and Motor Skills, 95, 741745.Google Scholar
Snodgrass, J. G., & Vanderwart, M. (1980). A standardised set of 260 pictures: Norms for name agreement, image agreement, familiarity and visual complexity. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory, and Cognition, 6, 174215.Google Scholar
Steyvers, M., & Tenenbaum, J. B. (2005). The large-scale structure of semantic networks: Statistical analyses and a model of semantic growth. Cognitive Science, 29, 4178.Google Scholar
Weekes, B., Chen, M. J., & Lin, Y.-B. (1998). Differential effects of phonological priming on Chinese character recognition. In Leong, C. K. & Tamaoka, K. (Eds.), Cognitive processing of the Chinese and the Japanese languages (pp. 4768). Amsterdam: Kluwer Academic.Google Scholar
Weekes, B., Davies, R., Parris, B., & Robinson, G. (2003). Age of acquisition effects on spelling in surface dysgraphia. Aphasiology, 17, 563584.Google Scholar
Weekes, B. S., Castles, A. E., & Davies, R. A. (2006). Effects of consistency and age of acquisition on reading and spelling among developing readers. Reading and Writing, 19, 133169.Google Scholar
Weekes, B. S., & Chen, H. Q. (1999). Surface dyslexia in Chinese. Neurocase, 5, 101112.Google Scholar
Weekes, B. S., Shu, H., Hao, M.-L., Liu, Y.-Y., & Tan, L. H. (2007). Predictors of timed picture naming in Chinese. Behavior Research Methods, Instruments, and Computers, 39, 335342.Google Scholar
Wu, J. T., Chou, T. L., & Liu, I. M. (1994). The frequency effects in processing Chinese characters and words. In Chang, H. W., Huang, J. T., Hue, C. W., & Tzeng, O. J. L. (Eds.), Advances in the study of Chinese language processing (pp. 3157). Taipei: Taiwan University.Google Scholar
Yamada, J., Takashima, H., & Yamazaki, M. (1998). Effect of ease-of-acquisition on naming latency for Japanese Kanji: A reanalysis of Yamazaki et al.'s (1997) data. Psychological Reports, 83, 9911002.Google Scholar
Yamazaki, M., Ellis, A. W., MorrisonC., M. C., M., & Lambon Ralph, M. A. (1997). Two age of acquisition effects in the reading of Japanese Kanji. British Journal of Psychology, 88, 407421.Google Scholar
Zevin, J. D., & Seidenberg, M. S. (2002). Age of acquisition effects in word reading and other tasks. Journal of Memory and Language, 47, 129.Google Scholar
Zevin, J. D., & Seidenberg, M. S. (2004). Age-of-acquisition effects in reading aloud: Tests of cumulative frequency and frequency trajectory. Memory & Cognition, 32, 3138.Google Scholar
Zhou, X., & Marslen-Wilson, W. (1999). Sublexical processing in reading Chinese. In Wang, J., Inhoff, A., & Chen, H.-C. (Eds.), Reading Chinese script: A cognitive analysis (pp. 3763). Hillsdale, NJ: Erlbaum.Google Scholar