Papers by Heather Winskel
Procedia - Social and Behavioral Sciences, 2014
Reading is one area within cognitive psychology that is rigorously studied through experiments. C... more Reading is one area within cognitive psychology that is rigorously studied through experiments. Cognitive psychologists because this receptive skill depends on different sub-processes that are interconnected with one another. While studies on reading the Arabic script in the Arabic language have been (though not thoroughly) conducted before, a study on reading the Arabic script in non-Arabic languages by native and first language speakers of Arabic has never been conducted. This paper presents results of an experiment that investigated the reading of Malay in the Arabic script by Arabic native and first language speakers.
The global precedence effect in English and Korean native speakers with Roman, Korean Hangul and Thai compound letters
Acta Psychologica, Jun 1, 2018
The aim was to investigate whether native English speakers (Experiment 1) and native Korean speak... more The aim was to investigate whether native English speakers (Experiment 1) and native Korean speakers (Experiment 2) processed familiar letters in an analytic manner in comparison to unfamiliar letters or symbols. Participants performed a two-alternative-forced-choice identification task with Roman, Korean Hangul and Thai Navon compound letters (large letters made up of small letters). The English speakers were familiar with Roman script but not Korean or Thai, whereas the Korean speakers were familiar with Korean and Roman script but not Thai. The global precedence effect (GPE), an indication of holistic processing, is characterised by a global advantage (global processing is faster than local processing) and asymmetric congruence (global processing interferes with the processing of local features). Based on previous research, it was predicted that there would be a global precedence effect for unfamiliar but not familiar letters. Results from the English speakers did not support this prediction as we found a GPE for familiar Roman as well as unfamiliar Thai letters but not for unfamiliar Korean letters. In contrast, for the Korean speakers, we found support for the prediction as we found a GPE for Thai letters but not for familiar Korean and Roman letters. Based on this evidence, we propose that the Koreans are processing Korean and Roman letters in a more analytic manner than the English native speakers for Roman script. Due to the characteristics of Korean Hangul, Korean readers may be processing letters in a more analytic manner than the English readers.
Heliyon, Jul 1, 2019
Smartphone use amongst university students is widespread and a common practice while studying. Ho... more Smartphone use amongst university students is widespread and a common practice while studying. However, this usage can lead to academic performance costs. This study examined the relationship between smartphone use during study, problematic smartphone use and academic performance in Korean and Australian university students. 119 Korean and 270 Australian students aged between 18 and 26 years completed a survey comprised of a smartphone usage questionnaire, smartphone addiction scale and self-report of their current GPA score. Average smartphone use and problematic smartphone use were found to be significantly higher for Korean compared to Australian students. A positive relationship was found between smartphone use and problematic smartphone use. For Australian students, a negative relationship was found between smartphone use and GPA. Results indicate that smartphone use and smartphone addiction proneness are currently higher for Korean students compared to Australian students. Furthermore, the more time a student spends using their smartphone, the more at risk they are for problematic smartphone use and possible academic performance costs.
Heliyon, 2019
Smartphone use amongst university students is widespread and a common practice while studying. Ho... more Smartphone use amongst university students is widespread and a common practice while studying. However, this usage can lead to academic performance costs. This study examined the relationship between smartphone use during study, problematic smartphone use and academic performance in Korean and Australian university students. 119 Korean and 270 Australian students aged between 18 and 26 years completed a survey comprised of a smartphone usage questionnaire, smartphone addiction scale and self-report of their current GPA score. Average smartphone use and problematic smartphone use were found to be significantly higher for Korean compared to Australian students. A positive relationship was found between smartphone use and problematic smartphone use. For Australian students, a negative relationship was found between smartphone use and GPA. Results indicate that smartphone use and smartphone addiction proneness are currently higher for Korean students compared to Australian students. Furthermore, the more time a student spends using their smartphone, the more at risk they are for problematic smartphone use and possible academic performance costs.
The deleterious effect of “mere presence” of one’s smartphone on cognitive performance
Frontiers in Psychology, 2018
Developmental patterns in Malay shape-based numeral classifier comprehension
Numeral classifier system is an instance of linguistic device for categorisation, a cognitive pro... more Numeral classifier system is an instance of linguistic device for categorisation, a cognitive process that is indispensable in human cognition and language development. The current study investigated the acquisition of eight Malay shape-based numeral classifiers through a matching comprehension task in 140 6 to 9 year old children. The aim is to examine the developmental patterns observed in the comprehension of Malay shape-based numeral classifiers. Specifically, the study focused at examining if the complexity of the semantic features of individual numeral classifiers plays a role in numeral classifier comprehension order, and if the degree of typicality of numeral classifier exemplars has an effect on the comprehension order. Results indicated that semantic complexity and exemplar typicality play a significant role in Malay numeral classifier comprehension.This suggests that multiple factors interact with each other and contribute to the developmental pattern of numeral classifier.
Journal of Comparative Family Studies, 2016
The developmental milestone expectations, parenting style, self-construal in Malaysian caregivers... more The developmental milestone expectations, parenting style, self-construal in Malaysian caregivers from Malay, Chinese and Indian backgrounds were examined. Striking commonalities emerged, which is in line with the shared collectivist characteristics of these three ethnic groups. Self-construal and parenting style were not significantly different between ethnic groups or mothers and fathers. Caregivers were more likely to endorse an authoritative than authoritarian parenting style. For the developmental milestone expectations, similar age expectations for self-care, emotional control and environmental independence were shared. Indian parents had relatively delayed age expectations for compliance, peer interaction and communication and a later age expectation than the Malay caregivers for education. These later age expectations reflect the relaxed, indulgent view of childrearing held by caregivers from an Indian background. It is important for early childhood educationalists to be awa...
Reading with and without spaces in Thai and English
Skip to main content: My Account; Help; About; Home. ePublications@SCU. ePublications@SCU. < P... more Skip to main content: My Account; Help; About; Home. ePublications@SCU. ePublications@SCU. < Previous; Next >; Home > H&HS papers > 1110. School of Health and Human Sciences. Title. Reading with and without spaces in Thai and English. Authors. H WinskelFollow C Schoknecht S Luksaneeyanawin P Sudasna Na Ayudhya. Suggested Citation. Winskel, H, Schoknecht, C, Luksaneeyanawin, S, Sudasna Na Ayudhya, P 2006, 'Reading with and ...
Script relativity hypothesis: evidence from reading with different spatial layouts and varied lexical tone
Reading and Writing: An International Journal, 2022
A contemporary question is whether the script we read in affects our cognition, termed the script... more A contemporary question is whether the script we read in affects our cognition, termed the script relativity hypothesis (Pae in: Script effects as the hidden drive of the mind, cognition, and culture, Springer, Berlin, 2020). The aim of this review is to examine variation in spatial layout (interword spaces and linear-nonlinear configuration) and representation of lexical tone across scripts and whether disparities in those features affect cognition. Both script features are strong candidates for potentially producing script relativity effects. Readers of densely crowded nonlinear scripts (e.g., Thai, Sinhala) may have heightened visuo-perceptual abilities in comparison to readers of linear scripts (e.g., Roman script). Tonal languages vary in terms of both their relative complexity and whether they orthographically encode this feature in their script. This variation may produce differences in sensitivity to tone perception and auditory perceptual skills in readers of tonal languages that do and do not orthographically represent tone in the script and in contrast to readers of non-tonal languages. The empirical research reviewed tends to support a weaker version of the script relativity hypothesis, where there is a channeling effect on attention due to script-specific features while actually reading. The question is still open to debate as to whether this attention allocation translates into more profound, nonlinguistic cognitive consequences. Notably, the research reviewed was not specifically designed to investigate the script relativity hypothesis. In order to investigate longer-term cognitive consequences of this script variation, carefully designed studies need to be conducted with this overriding goal in mind. Future research needs to include other lesser studied languages and their scripts so that we can ascertain what are common cognitive patterns or processes and what are shaped by variation in script-specific features.
Journal of Cultural Cognitive Science
We investigated how becoming literate in Roman script affects the way we process letter-like obje... more We investigated how becoming literate in Roman script affects the way we process letter-like objects and even faces, using a paired same-different task with nonwords, false fonts (letter-like symbols), and faces with monoliterate English and Thai readers. Roman script has mirror letter pairs whereas Thai script does not. Importantly, the Thais were literate in Thai but illiterate in Roman script. Participants were required to respond with a “same” response to both identical and mirror pairs of images. We predicted that the Thais would be more influenced by mirror invariance and so better able to recognise mirror-image pairs as being the same object than English readers. We found support for this prediction as the English readers showed a greater mirror cost for response times than the Thais. Thus, becoming literate in Roman script reduces the ability to judge two mirror images as the “same” in comparison to Thai script readers. These findings provide evidence that Thai readers who are illiterate in Roman script are more susceptible to mirror generalisation effects than Roman script readers.
Bilingual digit and number word processing in a parity judgment flanker task
Culture and Brain
Numbers are particularly interesting as they can be presented in different notations, for example... more Numbers are particularly interesting as they can be presented in different notations, for example, they can be represented as numerical digits or words. Moreover, many cultures around the world have different writing systems for representing number. Thai uses a more traditional Thai number system in conjunction with Arabic numbers. In the current study, we investigated the processing of numerical digits and words in unbalanced Thai-English bilinguals using a numerical parity judgment task. The flankers occurring on either side of the target were either congruent or incongruent with the target digit or word. In Experiment 1, we investigated the effects of Arabic digit and Thai digit flankers on English and Thai target number words and in Experiment 2, the effects of English and Thai number word flankers on Arabic and Thai digit targets. In Experiment 1, we found an interference effect from Thai digit flankers on Thai numerical words and in Experiment 2, an interference effect for Arabic digits from Thai word flankers. These results suggest that the first language is playing a greater contributing role than the second language and that numerical notation format contributes to the effect. Proficiency in the second language is likely to moderate this effect.
Eye tracking technology: its scope and limitations in reading
South and Southeast Asian Psycholinguistics
Journal of Cognitive Psychology, 2021
The colour red has heterogeneous connotations that includes associations with both anger and roma... more The colour red has heterogeneous connotations that includes associations with both anger and romance. We conducted two experiments where we contrasted the colour red associated with anger-related words to the colour yellow associated with joy-related words (Experiment 1), and in contrast to the colour pink associated with romance-related words (Experiment 2), using an emotion categorisation task. In this task, participants were required to categorise words into one of two semantic categories (Experiment 1: anger-related versus joy-related and Experiment 2: anger-related versus romance-related). The analyses were conducted across both participants and items. In Experiment 1, we found clear facilitative effects for categorisation of anger-related words in red font and joy-related words in yellow font. This highlights the robust nature of the red-anger pairing and the colour yellow with the positive emotions of joy/happiness. In Experiment 2, we similarly found clear facilitative categorisation of anger-related words in red font. However, for romance-related words, we found a facilitative effect when presented in pink for participants but not for items. These mixed results illustrate the degree of competition when categorising romance-related words in red and pink fonts due to overlapping semantic connotations and similarity of the colours red and pink. 
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Papers by Heather Winskel