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The study involves approximately 250 Chinese university students from eight institutions to determine what parts of a representative sample of Chinese characters are crucial to their correct identification. One-hundred and two simplified characters were presented to participants using a web-based experimental platform. The characters were partially obscured using a gaussian blurring technique. The direction of maximum blur could either be from top to bottom, bottom to top, left to right, or right to left. Participants were asked to identify the blurred character and type its pinyin. Overall, participants correctly identified 88% of characters. The effects of all forms of blurring on correct recognition were correlated with character structures. Phonetic radicals seem to be more sensitive to the blurring than semantic radicals, while the radical transparency and radical frequency also plays a role in the recognition accuracy. The blurring conditions that impacted most significantly on correct recognition were top to bottom and bottom to top, which caused, respectively, the upper and lower parts of the character to be obscured.

The study involves approximately 250 Chinese university students from eight institutions to determine what parts of a representative sample of Chinese characters are crucial to their correct identification. One-hundred and two simplified characters were presented to participants using a web-based experimental platform. The characters were partially obscured using a gaussian blurring technique. The direction of maximum blur could either be from top to bottom, bottom to top, left to right, or right to left. Participants were asked to identify the blurred character and type its pinyin. Overall, participants correctly identified 88% of characters. The effects of all forms of blurring on correct recognition were correlated with character structures. Phonetic radicals seem to be more sensitive to the blurring than semantic radicals, while the radical transparency and radical frequency also plays a role in the recognition accuracy. The blurring conditions that impacted most significantly on correct recognition were top to bottom and bottom to top, which caused, respectively, the upper and lower parts of the character to be obscured.

The study involves approximately 250 Chinese university students from eight institutions to determine what parts of a representative sample of Chinese characters are crucial to their correct identification. One-hundred and two simplified characters were presented to participants using a web-based experimental platform. The characters were partially obscured using a gaussian blurring technique. The direction of maximum blur could either be from top to bottom, bottom to top, left to right, or right to left. Participants were asked to identify the blurred character and type its pinyin. Overall, participants correctly identified 88% of characters. The effects of all forms of blurring on correct recognition were correlated with character structures. Phonetic radicals seem to be more sensitive to the blurring than semantic radicals, while the radical transparency and radical frequency also plays a role in the recognition accuracy. The blurring conditions that impacted most significantly on correct recognition were top to bottom and bottom to top, which caused, respectively, the upper and lower parts of the character to be obscured.

The study involves approximately 250 Chinese university students from eight institutions to determine what parts of a representative sample of Chinese characters are crucial to their correct identification. One-hundred and two simplified characters were presented to participants using a web-based experimental platform. The characters were partially obscured using a gaussian blurring technique. The direction of maximum blur could either be from top to bottom, bottom to top, left to right, or right to left. Participants were asked to identify the blurred character and type its pinyin. Overall, participants correctly identified 88% of characters. The effects of all forms of blurring on correct recognition were correlated with character structures. Phonetic radicals seem to be more sensitive to the blurring than semantic radicals, while the radical transparency and radical frequency also plays a role in the recognition accuracy. The blurring conditions that impacted most significantly on correct recognition were top to bottom and bottom to top, which caused, respectively, the upper and lower parts of the character to be obscured.

The study involves approximately 250 Chinese university students from eight institutions to determine what parts of a representative sample of Chinese characters are crucial to their correct identification. A web-based experimental platform was used to present 102 simplified characters to participants. The characters were partially obscured using a Gaussian blurring technique. The direction of maximum blur could either be from top to bottom, bottom to top, left to right, or right to left. Participants were asked to identify the blurred character and type its pinyin. Overall, participants correctly identified 88% of characters. The effects of all forms of blurring on correct recognition were correlated with character structures. Phonetic radicals seem to be more sensitive to the blurring than semantic radicals, while the radical transparency and radical frequency also play a role in the recognition accuracy. The blurring conditions that impacted most significantly on correct recognition were top to bottom and bottom to top, which caused, respectively, the upper and lower parts of the character to be obscured.

This paper describes the use of semantic similarity measures based on distributed representations of words, sentences, and paragraphs (so-called “embeddings”) to assess the impact of supra-lexical factors on eye-movement data from early readers of Chinese. In addition, we used a corpus-based measure of surprisal to assess the impact of local word predictability. Eye movement data from 56 Chinese students were collected (a) in the students’ 4th grade and (b) one year later while they were in 5th grade. Results indicated that surprisal and some text similarity measures have a significant impact on the momentto- moment processing of words in reading. The paper presents an easy-to-use set of tools for linking the low-level aspects of fixation durations to a hierarchy of sentence-level and paragraph-level features that can be computed automatically. The study is the first attempt, as far as we are aware, to track the developmental trajectory of these influences in developing readers across a range of reading abilities. The similarity-based measures described here can be used (a) to provide a measure of reader sensitivity to sentence and paragraph cohesion and (b) to assess specific texts for their suitability for readers of different reading ability levels.

The study involves approximately 250 Chinese university students from eight institutions to determine what parts of a representative sample of Chinese characters are crucial to their correct identification. A web-based experimental platform was used to present 102 simplified characters to participants. The characters were partially obscured using a Gaussian blurring technique. The direction of maximum blur could either be from top to bottom, bottom to top, left to right, or right to left. Participants were asked to identify the blurred character and type its pinyin. Overall, participants correctly identified 88% of characters. The effects of all forms of blurring on correct recognition were correlated with character structures. Phonetic radicals seem to be more sensitive to the blurring than semantic radicals, while the radical transparency and radical frequency also play a role in the recognition accuracy. The blurring conditions that impacted most significantly on correct recognition were top to bottom and bottom to top, which caused, respectively, the upper and lower parts of the character to be obscured.

This paper describes the use of semantic similarity measures based on distributed representations of words, sentences, and paragraphs (so-called “embeddings”) to assess the impact of supra-lexical factors on eye-movement data from early readers of Chinese. In addition, we used a corpus-based measure of surprisal to assess the impact of local word predictability. Eye movement data from 56 Chinese students were collected (a) in the students’ 4th grade and (b) one year later while they were in 5th grade. Results indicated that surprisal and some text similarity measures have a significant impact on the momentto- moment processing of words in reading. The paper presents an easy-to-use set of tools for linking the low-level aspects of fixation durations to a hierarchy of sentence-level and paragraph-level features that can be computed automatically. The study is the first attempt, as far as we are aware, to track the developmental trajectory of these influences in developing readers across a range of reading abilities. The similarity-based measures described here can be used (a) to provide a measure of reader sensitivity to sentence and paragraph cohesion and (b) to assess specific texts for their suitability for readers of different reading ability levels.

We present a neural network for predicting purchasing intent in an Ecommerce setting. Our main contribution is to address the significant investment in feature engineering that is usually associated with state-of-the-art methods such as Gradient Boosted Machines. We use trainable vector spaces to model varied, semi-structured input data comprising categoricals, quantities and unique instances. Multi-layer recurrent neural networks capture both session-local and dataset-global event dependencies and relationships for user sessions of any length. An exploration of model design decisions including parameter sharing and skip connections further increase model accuracy. Results on benchmark datasets deliver classification accuracy within 98% of state-of-the-art on one and exceed state-of-the-art on the second without the need for any domain / dataset-specific feature engineering on both short and long event sequences

We report on a visual perception study to measure differences between numerical error in reconstructions from digital holograms of real-world objects that have undergone lossy compression, and the loss in quality perceived by human observers.

We report on a visual perception study to measure differences between numerical error in reconstructions from digital holograms of real-world objects that have undergone lossy compression, and the loss in quality perceived by human observers.

We present a neural network for predicting purchasing intent in an Ecommerce setting. Our main contribution is to address the significant investment in feature engineering that is usually associated with state-of-the-art methods such as Gradient Boosted Machines. We use trainable vector spaces to model varied, semi-structured input data comprising categoricals, quantities and unique instances. Multi-layer recurrent neural networks capture both session-local and dataset-global event dependencies and relationships for user sessions of any length. An exploration of model design decisions including parameter sharing and skip connections further increase model accuracy. Results on benchmark datasets deliver classification accuracy within 98% of state-of-the-art on one and exceed state-of-the-art on the second without the need for any domain / dataset-specific feature engineering on both short and long event sequences

We present a neural network for predicting purchasing intent in an Ecommerce setting. Our main contribution is to address the significant investment in feature engineering that is usually associated with state-of-the-art methods such as Gradient Boosted Machines. We use trainable vector spaces to model varied, semi-structured input data comprising categoricals, quantities and unique instances. Multi-layer recurrent neural networks capture both session-local and dataset-global event dependencies and relationships for user sessions of any length. An exploration of model design decisions including parameter sharing and skip connections further increase model accuracy. Results on benchmark datasets deliver classification accuracy within 98% of state-of-the-art on one and exceed state-of-the-art on the second without the need for any domain / dataset-specific feature engineering on both short and long event sequences., Comment: Accepted to SIGIR eCom workshop, Ann Arbor, Michigan, USA, 2018

This paper describes two experiments that first explore the potential role of Chinese character writing in character visual recognition, and then examine different evaluative responses towards the quality of pinyin and character handwriting. Taken together, the results suggest that drawing Chinese characters privileges them in memory in a way that facilitates their subsequent visual recognition. This is true even when the congruency of the recognition response and other potential confounds are controlled for. In terms of the writing quality, the reader’s empathy effect can be found for handwritten characters but not pinyin, since the handwritten characters tended to be rated more highly than pinyin. The experience of an evaluator also has an impact on the evaluation of writing quality. The pedagogical implications for Chinese as a foreign language (CFL) are highlighted at the end of the paper, in particular those relating to curriculum design and teacher training.

This paper describes two experiments that first explore the potential role of Chinese character writing in character visual recognition, and then examine different evaluative responses towards the quality of pinyin and character handwriting. Taken together, the results suggest that drawing Chinese characters privileges them in memory in a way that facilitates their subsequent visual recognition. This is true even when the congruency of the recognition response and other potential confounds are controlled for. In terms of the writing quality, the reader’s empathy effect can be found for handwritten characters but not pinyin, since the handwritten characters tended to be rated more highly than pinyin. The experience of an evaluator also has an impact on the evaluation of writing quality. The pedagogical implications for Chinese as a foreign language (CFL) are highlighted at the end of the paper, in particular those relating to curriculum design and teacher training.

This paper describes two experiments that first explore the potential role of Chinese character writing in character visual recognition, and then examine different evaluative responses towards the quality of pinyin and character handwriting. Taken together, the results suggest that drawing Chinese characters privileges them in memory in a way that facilitates their subsequent visual recognition. This is true even when the congruency of the recognition response and other potential confounds are controlled for. In terms of the writing quality, the reader’s empathy effect can be found for handwritten characters but not pinyin, since the handwritten characters tended to be rated more highly than pinyin. The experience of an evaluator also has an impact on the evaluation of writing quality. The pedagogical implications for Chinese as a foreign language (CFL) are highlighted at the end of the paper, in particular those relating to curriculum design and teacher training.

We study observers looking at a 3D scene captured in a traditional glass plate hologram using eye-tracking. We compare this with stereoscopic and 2D images. Our results can guide development of future digital holographic displays.

It has recently been found that adult native readers of Thai, an alphabetic scriptio continua language, engage similar oculomotor patterns as readers of languages written with spaces between words; despite the lack of inter-word spaces, first and last characters of a word appear to guide optimal placement of Thai readers’ eye movements, just to the left of word-centre. The issue addressed by the research described here is whether eye movements of Thai children also show these oculomotor patterns. Here the effect of first and last character frequency and word frequency on the eye movements of 18 Thai children when silently reading normal unspaced and spaced text was investigated. Linear mixed-effects model analyses of viewing time measures (first fixation duration, single fixation duration, and gaze duration) and of landing site location revealed that Thai children’s eye movement patterns were similar to their adult counterparts. Both first character frequency and word frequency played important roles in Thai children’s landing sites; children tended to land their eyes further into words, close to the word centre, if the word began with higher frequency first characters, and this effect was facilitated in higher frequency words. Spacing also facilitated more effective use of first character frequency and it also assisted in decreasing children’s viewing time. The use of last-character frequency appeared to be a later development, affecting mainly single fixation duration and gaze duration. In general, Thai children use the same oculomotor control mechanisms in reading spaced and unspaced texts as Thai adults, who in turn have similar oculomotor control as readers of spaced texts. Thus, it appears that eye movements in reading converge on the optimal landing site using whatever cues are available to guide such placement.

Fractal patterns offer one way to represent the rough complexity of the natural world. Whilst they dominate many of our visual experiences in nature, little large-scale perceptual research has been done to explore how we respond aesthetically to these patterns. Previous research (Taylor et al., 2011) suggests that the fractal patterns with mid-range fractal dimensions (FDs) have universal aesthetic appeal. Perceptual and aesthetic responses to visual complexity have been more varied with findings suggesting both linear (Forsythe et al., 2011) and curvilinear (Berlyne, 1970) relationships. Individual differences have been found to account for many of the differences we see in aesthetic responses but some, such as culture, have received little attention within the fractal and complexity research fields. This two-study article aims to test preference responses to FD and visual complexity, using a large cohort (N = 443) of participants from around the world to allow universality claims to be tested. It explores the extent to which age, culture and gender can predict our preferences for fractally complex patterns. Following exploratory analysis that found strong correlations between FD and visual complexity, a series of linear mixed-effect models were implemented to explore if each of the individual variables could predict preference. The first tested a linear complexity model (likelihood of selecting the more complex image from the pair of images) and the second a mid-range FD model (likelihood of selecting an image within mid-range). Results show that individual differences can reliably predict preferences for complexity across culture, gender and age. However, in fitting with current findings the mid-range models show greater consistency in preference not mediated by gender, age or culture. This article supports the established theory that the mid-range fractal patterns appear to be a universal construct underlying preference but also highlights the fragility of unive

We study observers looking at a 3D scene captured in a traditional glass plate hologram using eye-tracking. We compare this with stereoscopic and 2D images. Our results can guide development of future digital holographic displays.

It has recently been found that adult native readers of Thai, an alphabetic scriptio continua language, engage similar oculomotor patterns as readers of languages written with spaces between words; despite the lack of inter-word spaces, first and last characters of a word appear to guide optimal placement of Thai readers’ eye movements, just to the left of word-centre. The issue addressed by the research described here is whether eye movements of Thai children also show these oculomotor patterns. Here the effect of first and last character frequency and word frequency on the eye movements of 18 Thai children when silently reading normal unspaced and spaced text was investigated. Linear mixed-effects model analyses of viewing time measures (first fixation duration, single fixation duration, and gaze duration) and of landing site location revealed that Thai children’s eye movement patterns were similar to their adult counterparts. Both first character frequency and word frequency played important roles in Thai children’s landing sites; children tended to land their eyes further into words, close to the word centre, if the word began with higher frequency first characters, and this effect was facilitated in higher frequency words. Spacing also facilitated more effective use of first character frequency and it also assisted in decreasing children’s viewing time. The use of last-character frequency appeared to be a later development, affecting mainly single fixation duration and gaze duration. In general, Thai children use the same oculomotor control mechanisms in reading spaced and unspaced texts as Thai adults, who in turn have similar oculomotor control as readers of spaced texts. Thus, it appears that eye movements in reading converge on the optimal landing site using whatever cues are available to guide such placement.

Fractal patterns offer one way to represent the rough complexity of the natural world. Whilst they dominate many of our visual experiences in nature, little large-scale perceptual research has been done to explore how we respond aesthetically to these patterns. Previous research (Taylor et al., 2011) suggests that the fractal patterns with mid-range fractal dimensions (FDs) have universal aesthetic appeal. Perceptual and aesthetic responses to visual complexity have been more varied with findings suggesting both linear (Forsythe et al., 2011) and curvilinear (Berlyne, 1970) relationships. Individual differences have been found to account for many of the differences we see in aesthetic responses but some, such as culture, have received little attention within the fractal and complexity research fields. This two-study article aims to test preference responses to FD and visual complexity, using a large cohort (N = 443) of participants from around the world to allow universality claims to be tested. It explores the extent to which age, culture and gender can predict our preferences for fractally complex patterns. Following exploratory analysis that found strong correlations between FD and visual complexity, a series of linear mixed-effect models were implemented to explore if each of the individual variables could predict preference. The first tested a linear complexity model (likelihood of selecting the more complex image from the pair of images) and the second a mid-range FD model (likelihood of selecting an image within mid-range). Results show that individual differences can reliably predict preferences for complexity across culture, gender and age. However, in fitting with current findings the mid-range models show greater consistency in preference not mediated by gender, age or culture. This article supports the established theory that the mid-range fractal patterns appear to be a universal construct underlying preference but also highlights the fragility of unive

This paper describes two experiments that first explore the potential role of Chinese character writing in character visual recognition, and then examine different evaluative responses towards the quality of pinyin and character handwriting. Taken together, the results suggest that drawing Chinese characters privileges them in memory in a way that facilitates their subsequent visual recognition. This is true even when the congruency of the recognition response and other potential confounds are controlled for. In terms of the writing quality, the reader’s empathy effect can be found for handwritten characters but not pinyin, since the handwritten characters tended to be rated more highly than pinyin. The experience of an evaluator also has an impact on the evaluation of writing quality. The pedagogical implications for Chinese as a foreign language (CFL) are highlighted at the end of the paper, in particular those relating to curriculum design and teacher training.

This paper describes two experiments that first explore the potential role of Chinese character writing in character visual recognition, and then examine different evaluative responses towards the quality of pinyin and character handwriting. Taken together, the results suggest that drawing Chinese characters privileges them in memory in a way that facilitates their subsequent visual recognition. This is true even when the congruency of the recognition response and other potential confounds are controlled for. In terms of the writing quality, the reader’s empathy effect can be found for handwritten characters but not pinyin, since the handwritten characters tended to be rated more highly than pinyin. The experience of an evaluator also has an impact on the evaluation of writing quality. The pedagogical implications for Chinese as a foreign language (CFL) are highlighted at the end of the paper, in particular those relating to curriculum design and teacher training.

This paper describes two experiments that first explore the potential role of Chinese character writing in character visual recognition, and then examine different evaluative responses towards the quality of pinyin and character handwriting. Taken together, the results suggest that drawing Chinese characters privileges them in memory in a way that facilitates their subsequent visual recognition. This is true even when the congruency of the recognition response and other potential confounds are controlled for. In terms of the writing quality, the reader’s empathy effect can be found for handwritten characters but not pinyin, since the handwritten characters tended to be rated more highly than pinyin. The experience of an evaluator also has an impact on the evaluation of writing quality. The pedagogical implications for Chinese as a foreign language (CFL) are highlighted at the end of the paper, in particular those relating to curriculum design and teacher training.

This paper describes two experiments that first explore the potential role of Chinese character writing in character visual recognition, and then examine different evaluative responses towards the quality of pinyin and character handwriting. Taken together, the results suggest that drawing Chinese characters privileges them in memory in a way that facilitates their subsequent visual recognition. This is true even when the congruency of the recognition response and other potential confounds are controlled for. In terms of the writing quality, the reader’s empathy effect can be found for handwritten characters but not pinyin, since the handwritten characters tended to be rated more highly than pinyin. The experience of an evaluator also has an impact on the evaluation of writing quality. The pedagogical implications for Chinese as a foreign language (CFL) are highlighted at the end of the paper, in particular those relating to curriculum design and teacher training.

This paper describes two experiments that first explore the potential role of Chinese character writing in character visual recognition, and then examine different evaluative responses towards the quality of pinyin and character handwriting. Taken together, the results suggest that drawing Chinese characters privileges them in memory in a way that facilitates their subsequent visual recognition. This is true even when the congruency of the recognition response and other potential confounds are controlled for. In terms of the writing quality, the reader’s empathy effect can be found for handwritten characters but not pinyin, since the handwritten characters tended to be rated more highly than pinyin. The experience of an evaluator also has an impact on the evaluation of writing quality. The pedagogical implications for Chinese as a foreign language (CFL) are highlighted at the end of the paper, in particular those relating to curriculum design and teacher training.

This paper describes two experiments that first explore the potential role of Chinese character writing in character visual recognition, and then examine different evaluative responses towards the quality of pinyin and character handwriting. Taken together, the results suggest that drawing Chinese characters privileges them in memory in a way that facilitates their subsequent visual recognition. This is true even when the congruency of the recognition response and other potential confounds are controlled for. In terms of the writing quality, the reader’s empathy effect can be found for handwritten characters but not pinyin, since the handwritten characters tended to be rated more highly than pinyin. The experience of an evaluator also has an impact on the evaluation of writing quality. The pedagogical implications for Chinese as a foreign language (CFL) are highlighted at the end of the paper, in particular those relating to curriculum design and teacher training.

This paper describes two experiments that first explore the potential role of Chinese character writing in character visual recognition, and then examine different evaluative responses towards the quality of pinyin and character handwriting. Taken together, the results suggest that drawing Chinese characters privileges them in memory in a way that facilitates their subsequent visual recognition. This is true even when the congruency of the recognition response and other potential confounds are controlled for. In terms of the writing quality, the reader’s empathy effect can be found for handwritten characters but not pinyin, since the handwritten characters tended to be rated more highly than pinyin. The experience of an evaluator also has an impact on the evaluation of writing quality. The pedagogical implications for Chinese as a foreign language (CFL) are highlighted at the end of the paper, in particular those relating to curriculum design and teacher training.

This paper describes two experiments that explore the potential role of Chinese character writing on their visual recognition. Taken together, the results suggest that drawing Chinese characters privileges them in memory in a way that facilitates their subsequent visual recognition. This is true even when the congruency of the recognition response and other potential confounds are controlled for.

This paper describes two experiments that explore the potential role of Chinese character writing on their visual recognition. Taken together, the results suggest that drawing Chinese characters privileges them in memory in a way that facilitates their subsequent visual recognition. This is true even when the congruency of the recognition response and other potential confounds are controlled for.

This paper describes two experiments that explore the potential role of Chinese character writing on their visual recognition. Taken together, the results suggest that drawing Chinese characters privileges them in memory in a way that facilitates their subsequent visual recognition. This is true even when the congruency of the recognition response and other potential confounds are controlled for.

This paper describes two experiments that explore the potential role of Chinese character writing on their visual recognition. Taken together, the results suggest that drawing Chinese characters privileges them in memory in a way that facilitates their subsequent visual recognition. This is true even when the congruency of the recognition response and other potential confounds are controlled for.

Using Best’s (1995) perceptual assimilation model (PAM), we investigated auditory–visual (AV), auditory-only (AO), and visual-only (VO) perception of Thai tones. Mandarin and Cantonese (tone-language) speakers were asked to categorize Thai tones according to their own native tone categories, and Australian English (non-tone-language) speakers to categorize Thai tones into their native intonation categories—for instance, question or statement. As comparisons, Thai participants completed a straightforward identification task, and another Australian English group identified the Thai tones using simple symbols. All of the groups also completed an AX discrimination task. Both the Mandarin and Cantonese groups categorized AO and AV Thai falling tones as their native level tones, and Thai rising tones as their native rising tones, although the Mandarin participants found it easier to categorize Thai level tones than did the Cantonese participants. VO information led to very poor categorization for all groups, and AO and AV information also led to very poor categorizations for the English intonation categorization group. PAM’s predictions regarding tone discriminability based on these category assimilation patterns were borne out for the Mandarin group’s AO and AV discriminations, providing support for the applicability of the PAM to lexical tones. For the Cantonese group, however, PAM was unable to account for one specific discrimination pattern—namely, their relatively good performance on the Thai high–rising contrast in the auditory conditions—and no predictions could be derived for the English groups. A full account of tone assimilation will likely need to incorporate considerations of phonetic, and even acoustic, similarity and overlap between nonnative and native tone categories.

Using Best’s (1995) perceptual assimilation model (PAM), we investigated auditory–visual (AV), auditory-only (AO), and visual-only (VO) perception of Thai tones. Mandarin and Cantonese (tone-language) speakers were asked to categorize Thai tones according to their own native tone categories, and Australian English (non-tone-language) speakers to categorize Thai tones into their native intonation categories—for instance, question or statement. As comparisons, Thai participants completed a straightforward identification task, and another Australian English group identified the Thai tones using simple symbols. All of the groups also completed an AX discrimination task. Both the Mandarin and Cantonese groups categorized AO and AV Thai falling tones as their native level tones, and Thai rising tones as their native rising tones, although the Mandarin participants found it easier to categorize Thai level tones than did the Cantonese participants. VO information led to very poor categorization for all groups, and AO and AV information also led to very poor categorizations for the English intonation categorization group. PAM’s predictions regarding tone discriminability based on these category assimilation patterns were borne out for the Mandarin group’s AO and AV discriminations, providing support for the applicability of the PAM to lexical tones. For the Cantonese group, however, PAM was unable to account for one specific discrimination pattern—namely, their relatively good performance on the Thai high–rising contrast in the auditory conditions—and no predictions could be derived for the English groups. A full account of tone assimilation will likely need to incorporate considerations of phonetic, and even acoustic, similarity and overlap between nonnative and native tone categories.

This paper describes two experiments that explore the potential role of Chinese character writing on their visual recognition. Taken together, the results suggest that drawing Chinese characters privileges them in memory in a way that facilitates their subsequent visual recognition. This is true even when the congruency of the recognition response and other potential confounds are controlled for.

This paper describes a number of simulations which show that SRN representations exhibit interactions between m e m o r y and sentence and clause boundaries reminiscent of effects described in the early psycholinguistic literature (Jarvella, 1971; Caplan, 1972). Moreover, these effects can be accounted for by the intrinsic properties of srn representations without the need to invoke external memory mechanisms, as has conventionally been done.

A connectionist attentional-shift model of eye- m o v e m e n t control (CASMEC) in reading is described. T h e model provides an integrated account of a range of saccadic control effects found in reading, such as word-skipping, refixation, and of course normal saccadic progression.

This paper provides a short overview of current issues in research on continuous reading in non-Roman orthographies. At the same time it also serves as an introduction to the present Reading and Writing Special Issue on this topic. The main questions examined in the contributions to this volume are closely related to issues that have been central to research debates on reading in English, German and French. However, we argue that these innovative approaches to the dynamics of reading in Chinese, Japanese and Korean go far beyond a simple comparative research strategy. Instead, by illuminating phenomena like word segmentation, parafoveal processing and semantic analysis from their unique perspectives, they provide valuable insights into the more general question of to what extent information processing in reading is universal as opposed to language specific. Moreover, we expect that these initial studies will trigger more basic research on non-alphabetic reading, providing a foundation for useful application.

This paper provides a short overview of current issues in research on continuous reading in non-Roman orthographies. At the same time it also serves as an introduction to the present Reading and Writing Special Issue on this topic. The main questions examined in the contributions to this volume are closely related to issues that have been central to research debates on reading in English, German and French. However, we argue that these innovative approaches to the dynamics of reading in Chinese, Japanese and Korean go far beyond a simple comparative research strategy. Instead, by illuminating phenomena like word segmentation, parafoveal processing and semantic analysis from their unique perspectives, they provide valuable insights into the more general question of to what extent information processing in reading is universal as opposed to language specific. Moreover, we expect that these initial studies will trigger more basic research on non-alphabetic reading, providing a foundation for useful application.

The objective of our study was to design, implement, and evaluate an oculomotor training system for beginning readers. The system is based on the theory of optimal viewing position for word identification. It consists of an eye tracking device and a computer program that gives real-time feedback in the form of a game to the reader about their fixation position on words. An experimental study was conducted with 8- year old children. The effectiveness of the training system was evaluated for each child by comparing saccade landing site distributions, gaze durations, and number of fixations per word before and after playing the game. We found that the peak of the landing site distribution moved towards the optimal viewing position after playing the game. We also determined that training had a positive effect on the evaluated measures in the majority of subjects. We propose that this type of oculomotor training may have potential benefits for some underperforming beginning readers or dyslexic readers., Tutkimuksen tavoite oli suunnitella, toteuttaa ja arvioida aloitteleville lukijoille tarkoitettua silmänliikkeiden kontrollin harjoittelujärjestelmää. Järjestelmä perustuu teoriaan optimaalisesta katseenkohdistuspaikasta sanan tunnistamiseksi. Se koostuu silmänliikeseurantalaitteesta ja tietokoneohjelmasta, jotka antavat reaaliaikaista palautetta pelin muodossa lukijalle hänen fiksaatiopaikastaan sanassa. Kokeellinen tutkimus tehtiin 8-vuotiaiden lasten kanssa. Järjestelmän vaikuttavuutta arvioitiin jokaisen lapsen kohdalla verraten sakkadien laskeutumispaikkajakaumaa, katseen kestoa ja fiksaatioiden määrää sanaa kohti ennen ja jälkeen pelin pelaamisen. Päädyimme tulokseen, että koulutuksella oli positiivinen vaikutus arvioinnin kohteena olleiden mittarien valossa suurimmassa osassa koehenkilöitä. Tämänkaltaisesta silmänliikkeiden kontrollia tukevasta harjoittelujärjestelmästä saattaisi potentiaalisesti olla apua lukihäiriöisille tai aloitteleville heikkotaitoisille lukijoille.

In this paper, a new method of blotch detection for digitised film sequences is proposed. Due to the aging of film stocks, their poor storage and/or repeated viewing, it is estimated that approximately 50% of all films produced prior to 1950 have either been destroyed or rendered unwatchable [1,2]. To prevent their complete destruction, original film reels must be scanned into digital format; however, any defects such as blotches will be retained. By combining a variation of a linear time, contour tracing technique with a simple temporal nearest neighbour algorithm, a preliminary detection system has been created. Using component labelling of dirt and sparkle the overall performance of the completed system, in terms of time and accuracy, will compare favourably to traditional motion compensated detection methods. This small study (based on 13 film sequences) represents a significant first step towards automatic blotch detection.

In this paper, a new method of blotch detection for digitised film sequences is proposed. Due to the aging of film stocks, their poor storage and/or repeated viewing, it is estimated that approximately 50% of all films produced prior to 1950 have either been destroyed or rendered unwatchable [1,2]. To prevent their complete destruction, original film reels must be scanned into digital format; however, any defects such as blotches will be retained. By combining a variation of a linear time, contour tracing technique with a simple temporal nearest neighbour algorithm, a preliminary detection system has been created. Using component labelling of dirt and sparkle the overall performance of the completed system, in terms of time and accuracy, will compare favourably to traditional motion compensated detection methods. This small study (based on 13 film sequences) represents a significant first step towards automatic blotch detection.

In this paper, a new method of blotch detection for digitised film sequences is proposed. Due to the aging of film stocks, their poor storage and/or repeated viewing, it is estimated that approximately 50% of all films produced prior to 1950 have either been destroyed or rendered unwatchable [1,2]. To prevent their complete destruction, original film reels must be scanned into digital format; however, any defects such as blotches will be retained. By combining a variation of a linear time, contour tracing technique with a simple temporal nearest neighbour algorithm, a preliminary detection system has been created. Using component labelling of dirt and sparkle the overall performance of the completed system, in terms of time and accuracy, will compare favourably to traditional motion compensated detection methods. This small study (based on 13 film sequences) represents a significant first step towards automatic blotch detection.

Until recently, filming has been an analogue process; it requires a mechanical process to record and view, and the source material itself is prone to decay & abrasion [1]. Film is expensive to store, and prohibitively expensive to restore. All footage - historical, documentary or entertainment – may completely degrade over time. While many archival films stocks are currently being scanned and further damage thus prevented, the digital copies are far from the quality of the original. The types of aberrations found are varied, from frame jitter and line scratches to dirt and sparkle. It is the detection of the latter two (which are frame based abnormalities) that will be examined here.

Until recently, filming has been an analogue process; it requires a mechanical process to record and view, and the source material itself is prone to decay & abrasion [1]. Film is expensive to store, and prohibitively expensive to restore. All footage - historical, documentary or entertainment – may completely degrade over time. While many archival films stocks are currently being scanned and further damage thus prevented, the digital copies are far from the quality of the original. The types of aberrations found are varied, from frame jitter and line scratches to dirt and sparkle. It is the detection of the latter two (which are frame based abnormalities) that will be examined here.

Until recently, filming has been an analogue process; it requires a mechanical process to record and view, and the source material itself is prone to decay & abrasion [1]. Film is expensive to store, and prohibitively expensive to restore. All footage - historical, documentary or entertainment – may completely degrade over time. While many archival films stocks are currently being scanned and further damage thus prevented, the digital copies are far from the quality of the original. The types of aberrations found are varied, from frame jitter and line scratches to dirt and sparkle. It is the detection of the latter two (which are frame based abnormalities) that will be examined here.

Although the development of the field of reading has been impressive, there are a number of issues that still require much more attention. One of these concerns the variability of skilled reading within the individual. This paper explores the topic in three ways: (1) it quantifies the extent to which, two factors, the specific reading task (comprehension vs. word verification) and the format of reading material (sentence vs. passage) influence the temporal aspects of reading as expressed in word-viewing durations; (2) it examines whether they also affect visuomotor aspects of eye-movement control; and (3) determine whether they can modulate local lexical processing. The results reveal reading as a dynamic, interactive process involving semi-autonomous modules, with top-down influences clearly evident in the eye-movement record.

Although the development of the field of reading has been impressive, there are a number of issues that still require much more attention. One of these concerns the variability of skilled reading within the individual. This paper explores the topic in three ways: (1) it quantifies the extent to which, two factors, the specific reading task (comprehension vs. word verification) and the format of reading material (sentence vs. passage) influence the temporal aspects of reading as expressed in word-viewing durations; (2) it examines whether they also affect visuomotor aspects of eye-movement control; and (3) determine whether they can modulate local lexical processing. The results reveal reading as a dynamic, interactive process involving semi-autonomous modules, with top-down influences clearly evident in the eye-movement record.

A model for predicting student performance on introductory programming modules is presented. The model uses attributes identified in a study carried out at four third-level institutions in the Republic of Ireland. Four instruments were used to collect the data and over 25 attributes were examined. A data reduction technique was applied and a logistic regression model using 10-fold stratified cross validation was developed. The model used three attributes: Leaving Certificate Mathematics result (final mathematics examination at second level), number of hours playing computer games while taking the module and programming self-esteem. Prediction success was significant with 80% of students correctly classified. The model also works well on a per-institution level. A discussion on the implications of the model is provided and future work is outlined.