汉字形音义加工时间进程的事件相关电位（ERP）研究

The time-courses of orthographic, phonological and semantic processing of Chinese characters were investigated systematically with multi-channel event-related potentials (ERPs). New evidences concerning whether phonology or semantics is processed first and whether phonology mediates semantic access were obtained, supporting and developing the new concept of repetition, overlapping, and alternating processing in Chinese character recognition. Statistic parameter mapping based on physiological double dissociation has been developed. Seven experiments were conducted: I) deciding which type of structure, left-right or non-left-right, the character displayed on the screen was; 2) deciding whether or not there was a vowel/a/in the pronunciation of the character; 3) deciding which classification, natural object or non-natural object, the character was; 4) deciding which color, red or green, the character was; 5) deciding which color, red or green, the non-character was; 6) fixing on the non-character; 7) fixing on the crosslet. The main results are: 1. N240 and P240:N240 and P240 localized at occipital and prefrontal respectively were found in experiments 1, 2, 3, and 4, but not in experiments 5, 6, or 7. The difference between the former 4 and the latter 3 experiments was only their stimuli: the former's were true Chinese characters while the latter's were non-characters or crosslet. Thus Chinese characters were related to these two components, which reflected unique processing of Chinese characters peaking at about 240 msec. 2. Basic visual feature analysis: In comparison with experiment 7 there was a common cognitive process in experiments 1, 2, 4, and 6 - basic visual feature analysis. The corresponding ERP amplitude increase in most sites started from about 60 msec. 3. Orthography: The ERP differences located at the main processing area of orthography (occipital) between experiments 1, 2, 3, 4 and experiment 5 started from about 130 msec. This was the category difference between Chinese characters and non-characters, which revealed that orthographic processing started from about 130 msec. The ERP differences between the experiments 1, 2, 3 and the experiment 4 occurred in 210-250, 230-240, and 190-250 msec respectively, suggesting orthography was processed again. These were the differences between language and non-language tasks, which revealed a higher level processing than that in the above mentioned 130 msec. All the phenomena imply that the orthographic processing does not finished in one time of processing; the second time of processing is not a simple repetition, but a higher level one. 4. Phonology: The ERPs of experiment 2 (phonological task) were significantly stronger than those of experiment 3 (semantic task) at the main processing areas of phonology (temporal and left prefrontal) starting from about 270 msec, which revealed phonologic processing. The ERP differences at left frontal between experiment 2 and experiment 1 (orthographic task) started from about 250 msec. When comparing phonological task with experiment 4 (character color decision), the ERP differences at left temporal and prefrontal started from about 220 msec. Thus phonological processing may start before 220 msec. 5. Semantic: The ERPs of experiment 3 (semantic task) were significantly stronger than those of experiment 2 (phonological task) at the main processing areas of semantics (parietal and occipital) starting from about 290 msec, which revealed semantic processing. The ERP differences at these areas between experiment 3 and experiment 4 (character color decision) started from about 270 msec. The ERP differences between experiment 3 and experiment 1 (orthographic task) started from about 260 msec. Thus semantic processing may start before 260 msec. 6. Overlapping of phonological and semantic processing: From about 270 to 350 msec, the ERPs of experiment 2 (phonological task) were significantly larger than those of experiment 3 (semantic task) at the main processing areas of phonology (temporal and left prefrontal); while from about 290-360 msec, the ERPs of experiment 3 were significantly larger than those of experiment 2 at the main processing areas of semantics (frontal, parietal, and occipital). Thus phonological processing may start earlier than semantic and their time-courses may alternate, which reveals parallel processing. 7. Semantic processing needs part phonology: When experiment 1 (orthographic task) served as baseline, the ERPs of experiment 2 and 3 (phonological and semantic tasks) significantly increased at the main processing areas of phonology (left temporal and frontal) starting from about 250 msec. The ERPs of experiment 3, besides, increased significantly at the main processing areas of semantics (parietal and frontal) starting from about 260 msec. When experiment 4 (character color decision) served as baseline, the ERPs of experiment 2 and 3 significantly increased at phonological areas (left temporal and frontal) starting from about 220 msec. The ERPs of experiment 3, similarly, increased significantly at semantic areas (parietal and frontal) starting from about270 msec. Hence, before semantic processing, a part of phonological information may be required. The conclusion could be got from above results in the present experimental conditions: 1. The basic visual feature processing starts from about 60 msec; 2. Orthographic processing starts from about 130 msec, and repeats at about 240 msec. The second processing is not simple repetition of the first one, but a higher level processing; 3. Phonological processing begins earlier than semantic, and their time-courses overlap; 4. Before semantic processing, a part of phonological information may be required; 5. The repetition, overlapping, and alternating of the orthographic, phonological and semantic processing of Chinese characters could exist in cognition. Thus the problem of whether phonology mediates semantics access is not a simple, but a complicated issue.