Influence of figural complexity on the identification of Kanji and Kana characters

Kana, simple Kanji, and complex Kanji characters differing in figural complexity (number of strokes) were tachistoscopically presented to the right and left visual half-fields of 115 German subjects. The subjects had to decide whether a stimulus (lasting 150 ms) was the same as or different from a sample stimulus (lasting 1000 ms) presented immediately before to the center of the visual field. An increased left field advantage in reaction time with higher figural complexity was hypothesized (Visual Field X Type of Script interaction). Analyses of variance, however, did not show this interaction. Because of a significant Type of Script X Response Type interaction simple main effects were calculated which were all significant. Pairwise comparisons for type of script were significant except for Kana vs. simple Kanji. No other significant effects were obtained. Reaction times were shortest for simple Kanji, intermediate for Kana and longest for complex Kanji. The results indicate that high figural complexity of Japanese characters does not favour the left visual field.