In Experiments 3 and 4, event-related potentials were recorded to verify the findings of the first two behavioral experiments. Similarly, Experiment 3 employed the lexical decision task and Experiment 4 used the position decision task. First, results revealed that a series of ERP components (P150, P200, and N400) were found to be related to the effect of position-specific radical frequency when the lexical decision task was used (Experiment 3). However, when replacing the lexical decision task with the position decision task but keeping illegal characters as fillers, the effect of position-specific radical frequency became quite weak, which was only associated with P200 (Experiment 4a). Moreover, when using the position decision task but replacing illegal characters with geometric figures as fillers, there were no effects of position-specific radical frequency any more (Experiment 4b). Second, the task was found to influence the time course for effects of position-free radical frequency, which was reflected by P200 in the lexical decision task (Experiment 3) and by N400 in the position decision task (Experiments 4a and 4b). Finally, simple character frequency could play a role in processing compound characters in which simple characters were used as radicals, but such effect was significant only in the position decision task and it was reflected by a change in N400 (Experiments 4a and 4b). / These findings indicate that position-specific radicals could play a role in character recognition, but this effect appears to be constrained by the task and/or the composition of materials. In contrast, effects of position-free radicals keep stable across different tasks and composition of materials. In addition, the findings also suggest that simple character information could exert influence on compound character processing, but only when characters are processed implicitly (e.g., in the position decision task). Implications of this research and future directions are discussed. / This research was designed to examine the processing of different kinds of radical frequency information, i.e. frequency as a position-free radical, frequency as a position-specific radical, and frequency as a stand alone character. Whether the task or the composition of materials could influence the processing of such information was also examined. The first two were behavioral experiments and results indicated that effect of the position-free radical frequency was stable across the lexical decision task (Experiment 1) and the position decision task (Experiment 2). Effect of the position-specific radical frequency emerged only when the lexical decision task was available (Experiment 1). / Wu, Yan. / Adviser: Hsuan Chih Chen. / Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 72-04, Section: B, page: . / Thesis (Ph.D.)--Chinese University of Hong Kong, 2010. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 99-108). / Electronic reproduction. Hong Kong : Chinese University of Hong Kong, [2012] System requirements: Adobe Acrobat Reader. Available via World Wide Web. / Electronic reproduction. Ann Arbor, MI : ProQuest Information and Learning Company, [200-] System requirements: Adobe Acrobat Reader. Available via World Wide Web. / Electronic reproduction. Ann Arbor, MI : ProQuest Information and Learning Company, [200-] System requirements: Adobe Acrobat Reader. Available via World Wide Web. / Abstract also in Chinese; includes Chinese characters in Appendix A-C.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:cuhk.edu.hk/oai:cuhk-dr:cuhk_344560 |
| Date | January 2010 |
| Contributors | Wu, Yan, Chinese University of Hong Kong Graduate School. Division of Psychology. |
| Source Sets | The Chinese University of Hong Kong |
| Language | English, Chinese, Chinese |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Text, theses |
| Format | electronic resource, microform, microfiche, 1 online resource (114 leaves : ill.) |
| Rights | Use of this resource is governed by the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons “Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International” License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/) |
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