Abstract: As a component of working memory model, Pphonological loop, which processes phonological information, is likely related to reading comprehension closely because working memory plays an important role in reading comprehension. Taking advantage of eye movement technique, we investigated the differences between normal reading and articulatory suppression reading. The aim of this study was to compare the roles of phonic and graphic information of Chinese characters in reading comprehension.
A 2 (reading condition: normal and articulatory suppression) × 5 (types of target: see table 1) within-subject design was used in the experiment.
Table 1
Type of stimuli

1 2 3 4 5
phonic same similar similar different different
orthographic same similar different similar different
Twenty-eight discourses with about 120 Chinese characters of each were selected. Each discourse had 2 target characters, which were assigned into 5 different types according to whether they were similar or not phonically and orthographically to the correct characters in the contexts (see table 1). Twenty-five college students with normal vision and right dominant hands participated in this experiment. Participants were asked to read a short story which was presented by a computer. Their eye movements were recorded by EyeLink eye tracking system while they were reading. There were three stages in each trial, including reading story, answering questions related to the story by pressing a key, and recognition test of some main words of the story by key pressing. Under the articulatory suppression, participants uttered “[i:]” which is “one” in Chinese 2-3 times per second.
The first fixation duration, gaze duration and total fixation duration of articulatory suppression reading were shorter than those of normal reading. A significant homophonic effect was found in two types of reading. Both phonic and Graphic information played an important role in the gaze duration or total fixation duration. The results indicated that: (1) phonological loop slowed down reading; (2) homophone effects were found under two different reading conditions, that is, first fixation and total fixation of homophone were shorter than those of non-homophone; (3) phonology played a role in early stage of Chinese reading and homophone errors could be corrected more easily than non-homophone ones

Key words: phonological loop, Chinese reading, articulatory suppression, eye movements, homophone effect