| Chinese character recognition is one of the subjects that the psychological linguists have been focused on. Tracing back to the end of the20th century, researchers began to study the nature of the sub-lexical level processing. However, they ignored the interference effect of the radical position and structure of Chinese characters and so on. Besides, it is a pity that they didn’t find the different characteristics in the different tasks, processing sub-lexical components (semantic radical and phonetic radical) that are standalone characters. Based on these results, this study is designed on the basis of previous researches with the aim to further explore the nature of the sub-lexical level processing. We use event-related potentials (ERP) technology, and choose two Chinese characters groups (high and low frequency), which are all left-right structure (the left is the semantic radical and the right is the phonetic radical).In Experiment1, we used a semantic judgment task. Participants were asked to judge whether there existed any semantic correlation between the priming words and target words, we analyzed the ERP data in the following three experimental conditions, phonetic radical semantically related priming condition, semantic radical phonologically related priming condition, and unrelated character priming condition. We also recorded from the target words appeared to the key reaction. The results show that the P200latency is the shortest and the N400latency is the longest in the phonology of semantic radical related priming condition.In Experiment2, we used a pronunciation judgment tasks. Participants are required to judge whether the pronunciation of the priming words are the same as target words. Then we analyzed the ERP data in the following three experimental conditions, phonetic radical semantically related priming condition, semantic radical phonologically related priming condition, and unrelated character priming condition. We also recorded from the target words appeared to the key reaction. The results show that the P200latency is the shortest and the N400latency is the longest in the second condition. The results show that the P200amplitude is the smallest and the N400amplitude is the largest in the meaning of phonetic radical related priming condition as well.Based on the experimental study, we come to the following conclusions:(1) the results support The Lexical Constituency Model basically. Namely, the phonology and meaning of Chinese sub-lexical components including the semantic radical and phonetic radical, which can be standalone characters, are processed the same as the whole character.(2) P200is not only related to word phonology processing, but also is associated with sub-lexical components (the radical) that are standalone characters processing.(3) The frequency is not the key factor in the radical effect. When the radical that are standalone characters, the phonology and meaning of which may be processed as same as the whole word, regardless of frequency.(4) In human brain, the dominant processing activities are determined by the type of task. In the semantic judgment task, the human brain focuses mainly on semantic radical processing. In pronunciation judgment task, the human brain focuses mainly on phonetic radical processing. |
