Abstract
While parafoveal word processing plays an important role in natural reading, the underlying neural mechanism remains unclear. The present study investigated the neural basis of parafoveal processing during Chinese word reading with the co-registration of eye-tracking and functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) using fixation-related fMRI analysis. In the gaze-contingent boundary paradigm, preview conditions (words that are identical, orthographically similar, and unrelated to target words), pre-target word frequency and target word frequency were manipulated. When fixating the pre-target word, the identical preview condition elicited lower brain activation in the left fusiform gyrus relative to unrelated and orthographically similar preview conditions and there were significant interactions of preview condition and pre-target word frequency on brain activation of the left middle frontal gyrus, left fusiform gyrus and supplementary motor area. When fixating the target word, there was a significant main effect of preview condition on brain activation of the right fusiform gyrus and a significant interaction of preview condition and pre-target word frequency on brain activation of the left middle frontal gyrus. These results suggest that fixation-related brain activation provides immediate measures and new perspectives to understand the mechanism of parafoveal processing in self-paced reading.
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The data sets generated and/or analyzed during this study are available from the corresponding author on reasonable request.
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Acknowledgements
Xiaohui Cui and Fabio Richlan have equally contributed to this work. This study was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China [grant number 31500886] and the Cooperation Project with Chinese Institute for Brain research, Beijing [grant number 2021-NKX-XM-05]. The authors thank National Center for Protein Sciences at Peking University in Beijing, China, for assistance with data collection.
Funding
This study was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China [grant number 31500886] and the Cooperation Project with Chinese Institute for Brain research, Beijing [grant number 2021-NKX-XM-05].
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XC, WZ: conceptualization; XC: methodology; WZ: formal analysis and investigation; XC, WZ: writing - original draft preparation; FR, WZ: writing - review and editing.
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Cui, X., Richlan, F. & Zhou, W. Fixation-related fMRI analysis reveals the neural basis of parafoveal processing in self-paced reading of Chinese words. Brain Struct Funct 227, 2609–2621 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00429-022-02552-4
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00429-022-02552-4