The proposed research will examine episodes of mindless reading, with special focus on the novel insights that such episodes may offer into dynamic attention allocation during the reading of Chinese. Mindless reading is a phenomena wherein readers continue moving their eyes across the text, but their attention has disengaged from text processing. People are adept at decoupling thought from action, allowing well-practiced behaviors to proceed automatically, while the conscious mind is elsewhere occupied. It is known that mind-wandering occupies anywhere from 30-50% of everyday cognition. Mindless reading can be considered as an extreme case of attention allocation—the depth and scope of attention engagement approach to zero. A prominent hypothesis is that eye-movement control during reading can be influenced by the depth and scope of attention engagement. The proposed research represents the first investigation of mind-wandering in Chinese reading. We will conduct foundational experiments on mindless reading in numerous methods, as an ecologically valid means to investigate the nature of dynamic attention allocation. According to recent theory, mind-wandering reflects activity of the brain's default network, which cyclically trades off with more controlled activity in frontal-parietal networks. The scientific study of mind-wandering poses methodological challenges, as it often requires self-report by the participant, who is typically unaware that attention has lapsed. In mindless reading, however, there are characteristic changes in eye-movements and brain signals that allow early, covert detection. Our research will use eye-tracking and EEG to identify mindless reading in an unobtrusive manner during natural reading. Combined these results, we will build a computational model for eye-movement control during the reading of Chinese, which will implement the dynamics of attention allocation and eye-movement control. Finally, we will simulate mindless reading by using this model.
“走神”是阅读过程中一种常见的现象，表明注意已脱离阅读的文字，注意的广度和深度逐渐趋近于零的状态。本项目即从这一有趣的现象出发，深入研究中文阅读过程中注意分配和眼动控制的动态调节。通过一系列实验研究和计算模拟，我们发现中文阅读过程中注意基于对象动态分配，以及眼动控制基于旁中央视野加工程度动态调节的机制。由于中文书写系统中词之间没有物理边界，及词的心理边界也比较模糊，中文阅读过程中的注意分配和眼动控制机制一直不清楚。本研究项目的发现初步解决了这两个重要的问题，为进一步破解中文阅读过程中的认知机制奠定了基础，也为建立中文阅读过程中的眼动控制和语言加工模型提供了可能。基于这些研究发现，我们已在心理学国际权威期刊发表9篇SSCI论文，包括Psychological Science，Journal of Experimental Psychology: Human Perception and Performance, Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory, and Cognition， Psychonomic Bulletin & Review， Cognitive Science，和Frontiers in Psychology等。
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