Comparative reading behavior

日本的书写系统是以汉字和假名为基础的，汉字和假名具有不同的功能特性，后者与罗马书写系统相似，即，英语、德语和法语，以基于声音的字母符号书写。本研究的目的是从视觉和言语信息处理的角度对日语的书写/阅读系统与罗马语和汉语的书写/读系统进行比较研究。此外，还对英语和日语的低视力系统进行了对比研究。采用阅读广度测验（日、德、法三种版本）测量工作记忆容量，Stroop测验（日、德、法三种版本）测量言语-知觉信息编码容量，并采用英、日两种版本的低视力测试表进行不同阅读/书写系统的比较研究。我们的研究结果表明，虽然每种语言的书写系统可能不同，但工作记忆容量基本不变。此外，我们的Stroop评分揭示了一个敏感的指标，以确定第一和第二语言的双语者。我们发现，日本低视力受试者需要更敏感的筛选字母表的低视力评估，特别是汉字似乎需要更多的高空间频率成分，以正确检测比假名，只需要2度/字符的空间频率成分。

The Japanese writing system has based both on kanji and kana components, in which the former has different functional properties as compared with the latter which is similar to Roman writing system, i.e., English, German and French, written with sound-based alphabetical symbols. The project aimed the comparative study of Japanese writing/reading system with that of Roman and Chinese system in terms of visual and verbal information processing. In addition, comparative study on low-vision system was done in both English and Japanese. Comparative study among different reading/writing systems was done by using reading span test (Japanese-, German-, French-versions) for measuring working memory capacity, by using Stroop test (Japanese-, German-, French-versions) for measuring verbal-perceptual information coding capacity, and by using low-vision test chart both for English and Japanese. Our results showed that although the writing system is likely differ to each language the working memory capacity is mostly unchanged. Furthermore, our Stroop scores revealed a sensitive index as for determining first- and second-language of bilingualists. We found Japanese low-vision subject need more sensitive screening letter chart for low-vision evaluation, especially kanji appears to require more higher spatial frequency component to detect correctly than kana which requires only 2-deg/character spatial frequency components.