The Adjustment of Complexity on Sarcasm Processing in Chinese: Evidence from Reading Time Indicators

Area of Science:

• Psycholinguistics
• Cognitive Science
• Computational Linguistics

Background:

• The cognitive processes underlying sarcasm comprehension, particularly in Chinese, remain debated.
• There is a scarcity of empirical evidence, especially eye-tracking data, on Chinese sarcasm processing.
• Understanding how sentence complexity influences sarcasm versus literal meaning interpretation is crucial.

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate the processing differences between sarcastic and literal meanings in Chinese text.
• To examine the role of sentence complexity in modulating these processing differences.
• To provide eye-movement evidence for Chinese sarcasm processing models.

Main Methods:

• Eye-tracking experiments were conducted with 33 participants reading Chinese text.
• Text stimuli varied in complexity and literality (sarcastic vs. literal).
• Data were analyzed using linear mixed-effects models.

Main Results:

• In early processing stages, simple sarcastic and literal remarks showed similar processing times.
• For complex remarks, early processing of sarcastic meaning took longer than literal meaning.
• In later processing stages, sarcastic meaning consistently required more time than literal meaning, irrespective of complexity.

Conclusions:

• Chinese sarcasm processing is influenced by initial literal meaning interpretation.
• Sentence complexity moderates the impact of literal meaning on processing sarcastic remarks.
• Processing of sarcastic meaning unfolds differently across processing stages, supporting hierarchical models.