arXiv:2509.23195cs.CLq-bio.NC2025-09

语法结构比统计规律更早主导阅读理解,影响眼球运动与脑电活动。

Structure leads and dominates comprehension in naturalistic reading

  • 用脑电与眼动同步记录,以句法深度衡量层级结构。
  • 句法结构在注视前108毫秒即引发神经反应,且引导眼球提前看向核心词。
  • 句法深度是决定阅读路径的最强因素,超越词汇熟悉度和意外性。

长期以来,层级理论与统计或序列理论被视为解释在线阅读理解的对立观点。大量证据表明,层级与非层级因素均影响理解,当前的关键问题不再是层级是否起作用,而是它何时以及在多大程度上起作用。本研究通过联合记录脑电(EEG)与眼动,将句法深度作为层级结构的操作化变量。结果发现,句法结构的影响早于眼球注视:其神经效应在注视开始前108毫秒即在右中央区域显现,眼动轨迹显示读者对句法中心词存在预期偏移。过渡概率分析和注视相关电位回归均支持这一预注视时间点。在过渡概率分析中,读者更倾向于在句法中心词间跳转而非按线性顺序移动,表明眼动路径由句法深度而非线性相邻性决定。贝叶斯网络建模显示,句法深度是偏离逐字阅读的最强预测因子,超过词汇熟悉度与意外性。综上,层级结构在行为与神经层面都预先引导在线理解,并相对于统计特征占据主导地位。

原文摘要 · Abstract (English)

The hierarchical account and statistical or sequential account have long been framed as rival theories in explaining online comprehension. A lot of evidence has shown that both hierarchical and non-hierarchical factors can shape comprehension and the open question is no longer whether hierarchy contributes, but when and how strongly it does. We addressed the question with co-registered EEG and eye-tracking, treating syntactic depth as the variable for operationalizing hierarchical structure. On timing, hierarchical structure influenced reading before the eyes fixated a word: its neural effect emerged as early as 108 ms before fixation onset, over right-central regions, and the scanpath showed an anticipatory bias toward structurally central words. Both the transitional-probability analysis and the regression on fixation-related potentials supported this pre-fixational timing. In the transitional-probability analysis, readers preferentially moved between syntactically central words rather than following serial word order, showing that scanpaths are organized by syntactic depth rather than by linear adjacency. On strength, Bayesian network modeling showed that syntactic depth was the strongest predictor of departures from linear, word-by-word reading, outweighing lexical familiarity and surprisal. Taken together, the results indicate that hierarchical structure anticipatorily guides online comprehension at both the behavioral and neural levels, and dominates the reading path relative to statistical features.

阅读理解句法结构眼动追踪脑电

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