Skipping of Chinese characters does not rely on word-based processing.

Area of Science:

• Cognitive Psychology
• Psycholinguistics
• Reading Science

Background:

• Eye-movement studies show readers skip high-frequency words (e.g., "the", "的").
• Two hypotheses explain skipping in Chinese: word-based (skipping after full word identification) vs. character-based (skipping based on easy character preview).

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate whether Chinese character skipping is word-based or character-based.
• To differentiate between the word-based and character-based skipping hypotheses in Chinese reading.

Main Methods:

• Utilized the gaze-contingent display change paradigm.
• Substituted the preview of a target character within a four-character Chinese word with a high-frequency character ('的').
• Analyzed skipping probability of the target character based on the manipulation.

Main Results:

• Results supported the character-based skipping hypothesis.
• The manipulation, intended to disrupt word-level processing, enhanced target character skipping probability.
• This suggests skipping is influenced by character-level processing ease.

Conclusions:

• The decision to skip a Chinese character can occur before it is integrated into a word.
• Character-based skipping is a significant factor in Chinese reading behavior.
• Reading processes involve rapid, character-level decisions influencing fixation patterns.