Abstract
In spite of the fact that Chinese readers are accustomed to reading Chinese either from top to bottom, from right to left, or from left to right, they chose to scan predominantly from top to bottom and from left to right when presented with patterned arrays of familiar stimulus materials. Two groups of Chinese subjects, 30 high school and 30 university students, were tested on a naming task using six types of material. There was no difference between the two groups in their preference for direction of scan, and the scanning patterns were highly systematic and unaffected by stimulus materials. Further analysis of subjects' scanning patterns suggested that a general top-to-bottom and left-to-right scanning tendency, so familiar to English readers, also prevails in the Chinese subject's performance.
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