Journal Article

The focus effect of sentence comprehension in natural reading of Chinese and English: a meta-analysis based on eye movement studies

Song, Jun, Tan, Xueqing, Jia, Huimin

2024

Overview

This meta-analysis examined how focus guided the allocation of readers’ attention in natural reading of Chinese and English. After the literature search and screening, 15 eye movement experimental studies were obtained, and Cohen’s d effect values (consisting of 480 subjects and 552 groups of experimental materials) were extracted to explore the focus effect values of various eye movement indicators and to explore whether they are regulated by focus marking and language type. The indices of first fixation time (FFD), gaze time (GD), total fixation time (TFD), and regression path reading time were selected for analysis. The findings were as follows: (1) In the focus condition, the first fixation time, the gaze duration, and the total fixation time of focus in the target region were shorter. They had medium effects. (2) Subgroup analysis revealed no difference in the effect size between Chinese and English media or in the types of focus marking (focus particles vs. syntactic markers). Additionally, the focus effect was not adjusted. This indicates that focus, as a special grammatical marker, has the characteristics of stably attracting attention resources and promoting information processing faster, regardless of language type and marking method. Nonetheless, it is easily influenced by other language rules.

• Publisher: Springer US,Springer,Springer Nature B.V
• Subject: Behavioral Science and Psychology / Chinese language / Comparative analysis / English language / Eye / Eye movements / Grammar, Comparative and general / Meta-analysis / Movements / Psychological aspects / Psychology / Reading comprehension / Sentences / Social Sciences