The effect of emotional information on Chinese word segmentation is influenced by word locations

Chinese word segmentation is challenging due to the lack of clear word boundaries. This study investigated how emotional valence and word location affect Chinese word segmentation in vertical reading direction, using overlapping ambiguous strings (OAS). We conducted an online experiment (N = 193) an...

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Main Authors: Xiaoyang Zou, Bowen Xie, Wenjie Peng, Mengjie Ji, Die Qin, Jie Yuan
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Elsevier 2025-08-01
Series:Acta Psychologica
Subjects:
Online Access:http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0001691825005517
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author Xiaoyang Zou
Bowen Xie
Wenjie Peng
Mengjie Ji
Die Qin
Jie Yuan
author_facet Xiaoyang Zou
Bowen Xie
Wenjie Peng
Mengjie Ji
Die Qin
Jie Yuan
author_sort Xiaoyang Zou
collection DOAJ
description Chinese word segmentation is challenging due to the lack of clear word boundaries. This study investigated how emotional valence and word location affect Chinese word segmentation in vertical reading direction, using overlapping ambiguous strings (OAS). We conducted an online experiment (N = 193) and used generalized linear mixed-effects models (GLMM) for analysis. Results showed that in the upper-side condition, positive words were more easily segmented than negative and neutral words, indicating a positive advantage account. In the lower-side condition, emotional words were more easily segmented than neutral words, but no difference was found between positive and negative words, corresponding to the emotion advantage account. This study extends previous findings about emotion information and Chinese word segmentation to vertical reading direction. It reveals that the effect of emotion information on word segmentation is influenced by the specific location (dominant reading locations & subordinate reading locations) of emotional words, and is related to the spatial metaphor of words with different valences.
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issn 0001-6918
language English
publishDate 2025-08-01
publisher Elsevier
record_format Article
series Acta Psychologica
spelling doaj-art-fa0c3020d0ae4fef8f73a4708eb697e62025-08-20T03:31:27ZengElsevierActa Psychologica0001-69182025-08-0125810523810.1016/j.actpsy.2025.105238The effect of emotional information on Chinese word segmentation is influenced by word locationsXiaoyang Zou0Bowen Xie1Wenjie Peng2Mengjie Ji3Die Qin4Jie Yuan5School of Psychology, South China Normal University, Guangzhou, Guangdong, ChinaSchool of Psychology, South China Normal University, Guangzhou, Guangdong, China; Faculty of Psychology, Southwest University, Chongqing, ChinaSchool of Psychology, South China Normal University, Guangzhou, Guangdong, ChinaSchool of Psychology, South China Normal University, Guangzhou, Guangdong, ChinaSchool of Psychology, South China Normal University, Guangzhou, Guangdong, China; Corresponding author.School of Psychology, South China Normal University, Guangzhou, Guangdong, China; School of Education (Shanwei), South China Normal University, Shanwei, Guangdong, China; Correspondence to: J. Yuan, School of Education (Shanwei), South China Normal University, Shanwei, Guangdong, China.Chinese word segmentation is challenging due to the lack of clear word boundaries. This study investigated how emotional valence and word location affect Chinese word segmentation in vertical reading direction, using overlapping ambiguous strings (OAS). We conducted an online experiment (N = 193) and used generalized linear mixed-effects models (GLMM) for analysis. Results showed that in the upper-side condition, positive words were more easily segmented than negative and neutral words, indicating a positive advantage account. In the lower-side condition, emotional words were more easily segmented than neutral words, but no difference was found between positive and negative words, corresponding to the emotion advantage account. This study extends previous findings about emotion information and Chinese word segmentation to vertical reading direction. It reveals that the effect of emotion information on word segmentation is influenced by the specific location (dominant reading locations & subordinate reading locations) of emotional words, and is related to the spatial metaphor of words with different valences.http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0001691825005517Overlapping ambiguous stringsSpatial metaphorEmotional wordsWord segmentation
spellingShingle Xiaoyang Zou
Bowen Xie
Wenjie Peng
Mengjie Ji
Die Qin
Jie Yuan
The effect of emotional information on Chinese word segmentation is influenced by word locations
Acta Psychologica
Overlapping ambiguous strings
Spatial metaphor
Emotional words
Word segmentation
title The effect of emotional information on Chinese word segmentation is influenced by word locations
title_full The effect of emotional information on Chinese word segmentation is influenced by word locations
title_fullStr The effect of emotional information on Chinese word segmentation is influenced by word locations
title_full_unstemmed The effect of emotional information on Chinese word segmentation is influenced by word locations
title_short The effect of emotional information on Chinese word segmentation is influenced by word locations
title_sort effect of emotional information on chinese word segmentation is influenced by word locations
topic Overlapping ambiguous strings
Spatial metaphor
Emotional words
Word segmentation
url http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0001691825005517
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