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The Ambiguous Morpheme Processing in Chinese Compound Word Recognition in Deaf Readers.
Yang Liu1, Mengfang Zhang2,3, Yan Wu3
1College of Computer Science and Technology, Changchun Normal University, Changchun 130032, China.
Behavioral Sciences (Basel, Switzerland)
|December 30, 2025
Summary
Deaf readers process ambiguous Chinese morphemes differently based on meaning frequency and context. Balanced morphemes use context, while biased morphemes rely on dominant meaning frequency during word recognition.
Area of Science:
- Cognitive Psychology
- Neuroscience
- Linguistics
Background:
- Understanding lexical access in deaf readers is crucial for effective reading instruction.
- Ambiguous morphemes present unique challenges in word recognition due to multiple meanings.
- Event-related potentials (ERPs) offer insights into the temporal dynamics of cognitive processing.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate how deaf individuals process ambiguous morphemes in Chinese compound words.
- To differentiate the processing of balanced versus biased ambiguous morphemes.
- To explore the neural mechanisms underlying morpheme-based lexical access in deaf readers.
Main Methods:
- Utilized a masked priming lexical decision paradigm with event-related potentials (ERPs).
- Employed a 3x2 within-subject design with balanced and biased morphemes.
- Analyzed brain activity at N250 (sublexical) and N400 (semantic) stages.
Main Results:
- Balanced morphemes activated orthographically similar primes at the N250 stage.
- Semantic processing (N400) showed activation of contextually congruent meanings for balanced morphemes.
- Biased morphemes exhibited frequency-dependent activation, with dominant meanings prioritized.
Conclusions:
- Deaf readers show distinct processing strategies for ambiguous morphemes.
- Balanced morphemes rely on contextual cues, while biased morphemes are influenced by meaning frequency.
- Findings inform reading and vocabulary instruction for deaf learners.
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