The role of visual perceptual skills in Chinese reading : evidence from beginning and expert readers

Abstract

In the past decades, reading researchers have devoted much effort to exploring the role of phonological processing in reading development and dyslexia, while the role of visual processing has been less consistently and systematically explored. Although not the central of reading research, visual perception is integral to the comprehensive understanding of reading, especially in Chinese. This thesis aims to examine the role of visual perception in reading through a series of four studies, using the Gestalt theory of visual perception as the primary theoretical framework. Gestalt theory posits that a Gestalt is an integrated whole that is distinct from the sum of its parts, with Gestalt psychologists advocating that perceptual experiences are inherently organized.

The first two studies delved into visual perception and early Chinese literacy acquisition. Study 1 disclosed four varied reading profiles among K3 children devoid of formal literacy education. Despite similar family backgrounds, the group with overall low literacy performance was associated with weaker visual perceptual skills. There is a small group of children with superior visual perceptual skills excelling in the grapheme character matching task but not other tasks, which might showcase the early holistic graphic learning of Chinese characters. Study 2 documented the influence of early visual perceptual skills which indirectly strengthen primary school writing skills, facilitated through the mediation of orthographic awareness. The studies highlighted the developmental change of the relative contribution of holistic-based and component-based visual perceptual skills to literacy attainment during the transition from kindergarten to primary school.

The other two studies focused on the interaction between visual-related factors and language-related factors during visual character recognition among skilled adult readers. Study 3 presented results from a fine-controlled component search paradigm, and demonstrated that Gestalt visual effects occurred not only on the character level but also on the component level. By comparing experts with novices, Study 4 detected a reduced level of holistic processing among expert Chinese readers by the inversion and composite holistic measures. It also supported the domain-specificity of the expertise induced change of holistic tendency by involving the face as a control object. The two studies quantified holistic processing by a variety of experimental paradigms and identified the factors that affected the formation of wholes and salient sub-wholes within a character.

Collectively, the studies refined the Gestalt visual perceptual theory in Chinese reading by considering the visual perception of orthographic units at different grain sizes and across participants with different reading experiences.