| Abstrakt: |
This study explored the inhibitory effects of constituent kanji characters on the semantic processing of Jaoanese kanji woras. We used a semantic categorization task in which participants mdged whether words represented human entities (human words) or not (general words). Both types of words were composed of two kanji characters, and in half of the words, the second kanji character represented a human entity (human characters), while this was not the case in the other half. The mean semantic categorization time for general words with human characters was longer than it was for the other general words. Furthermore, the mean error rate for the former was higher than was that for the latter, indicating inhibitory effects of constituent kanji characters. However, the mean semantic categorization time and mean error rates for human words did not differ between those with and without human characters, indicating no iacilitatory effects. Finally, a theory of semantic processing of Japanese kanji words explaining these results is proposed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR] |
