Aging and semantic transparency effects during Chinese reading: Evidence from eye movements

Background Semantic transparency of radicals is the degree to which constituent radicals are semantically related to the meaning of a whole character. Semantic transparency is important in compound words processing. Previous studies mostly used priming paradigm to examine semantic transparency effects on young adults. However, considering that vision typically changes with age, it is important to establish whether semantic transparency effects are equivalent across adulthood. Methods Young (18–25 years) and older (65 + years) adults were recorded while reading sentences with transparent and opaque target words. In Experiment 1, these target words were present throughout reading. In contrast, Experiment 2 used a gaze-contingent paradigm. Results Both groups showed greater difficulty processing opaque words than transparent words. In Experiment 1, however, there were no interactions, confirming that semantic transparency effects are similar for both age groups. In Experiment 2, semantic transparency effects were greater for older adults. Therefore, opaque words are more difficult to process than transparent words. Conclusions Semantic transparency effects are not significantly moderated by age during normal reading, although the interaction effects in Experiment 2 suggests that older adults rely on character-based reading strategies to compensate for decreased parafoveal processing abilities, as lexical representation is especially important for transparent words processing.