The Impact of Spacing and Exposure Frequency on Eye Movement Control during Learning and Scanning of Pseudowords in Chinese Native Speakers

Wang et al. (Atten Percept Psychophys 83(8):3146–3161, 2021a) examined how exposure frequency of novel pseudowords affected the rate at which they were learnt by native English readers, and whether exposure frequency influenced eye movements during subsequent scanning of text-like strings under different demarcation formats (spaced vs. unspaced; shaded vs. unspaced). They found that exposure frequency affected learning, but not scanning, though scanning was influenced by demarcation. Using the same paradigm, we investigated these effects in a different population—Chinese native speakers, anticipating they may show increased learning effects due to their use of Pinyin during literacy development. We found robust exposure frequency and rate of learning effects, however, frequency effects did not occur during scanning. Eye movements were greatly affected by string demarcation format. Accumulated pseudoword exposure based on prior pinyin learning and experience in Chinese readers results in more rapid and increased pseudoword learning. We discuss our findings in relation to literacy learning systems and Chinese orthographic form.