Predictive Processing and its effects on word identification in Chinese reading: Evidence from Fixation-related Potentials

Abstract: A co-registering technique of eye tracking with EEG data were adopted to explore the processing of contextual predictive and its effects on word identification in natural silent Chinese reading. The fixation-related potentials (FRPs) are time-locked to onset of the first fixation on target word thus generating fixation-related potentials (FRPs). There are two main findings in present study. First it was observed that contextual predictability increased the gaze duration on pre-target region and that the brain response results mimicked that of gaze duration. Namely contextual predictability increased the amplitude of early negative deflections overall the brain scalps. Second decreased contextual predictability effects of fixation time measures on target region (first fixation duration and gaze duration) and also an decreased contextual predictability effects on the earlier early negative deflections and N400 overall the left brain scalps were observed. Overall we observed reversed contextual predictability effects on pre-target region suggesting that a robust extra predictive processing when Chinese people read high predictable frame sentences. And in addition the results of decreased contextual predictability effects on eye tracking and brain response measures when Chinese people fixated the target word suggest that they could use the contextual information for promoting word recognition from the earlier word form access to semantic access during reading.