THE INFORMATION PROCESSING OF CHINESE CHARACTERS (KANJI): CHINESE READING, JAPANESE READING AND THE ATTACHMENT OF MEANING

To investigate the hypothesis that the Japanese people attach the meaning to Kanji or Chinese characters at the first glance not by Ondoku (Chinese reading) but by Kundoku (Japanese reading), a series of Kanji were presented to subjects using the incidental learning paradigm in such a way that the effects of three variables upon the information processing of Kanji could be adequately analyzed. The three variables were the probability of relative appearance (PRA) of Ondoku, the type of presentation and the type of reading. The results were interpreted as supporting the above hypothesis and further suggesting the possibility that subjects translated Kundoku to Ondoku when they were required to pronounce in Ondoku.