Abstract
This study was undertaken for the purpose of verifying the following hypothesis on Japanese language.
(1) As the order of approximation to language grows higher, the recognition of letter sequences as the stimuli becomes easier.
(2) But, when we take redundancy into account, the total amount of information per sequence becomes relatively constant even though the number of letters received varies.
The design of experiment was as follows:
Four letter sequences (0, 1, 2, 3 order) were so constructed as to reflect different orders of approximation to Japanese words.
Subjects were individually shown these sequences in a Dodge tachistoscope and a memory drum.
In the tachistoscope the sequences of eight letters were exposed, each sequence for one second, and in the memory drum the sequences of twenty letters were exposed, each letter for one and a half second.
The results were recorded in two different ways-in terms of (1) the total number of correct letters, regardless of their positions (letter score), (2) the number of correct letters recorded in the proper blanks on the answer sheet (placement score).
The obtained data revealed a consistent difference among the four orders of approximation to Japanese.
(1) The most nonsensical letter sequences (zero-order) yielded the lowest scores, whereas the most sensible letter sequences (third-order) yielded the highest scores.
(2) When the experimental data were reinterpreted from the view point of the total amount of information per letter, the scores for all other orders of approximation were reduced to nearly the same values as the scores for the zero-order approximation.
When the data were treated in terms of error responses, the results revealed that the amount of errors tended to decrease with an increase in the order of approximation to Japanese words.
The above results showed a similar tendency regardless of the procedual difference in stimulus presentation, either in a tachistoscope or in a memory drum.
We may therefore conclude that the results obtained from this experiment varied mainly with the nature of the letter sequences, and that they are independent of the procedure of stimulus presentation.
