Transposed- and substituted-character effects in written word recognition by Chinese prelingually deaf adults: Evidence from mouse-tracking technology.

Abstract

Efficient written word recognition is crucial for effective reading and comprehension. However, whether deaf people recognize written words through the same psychological mechanisms as those of hearing individuals remains controversial. The present study utilized mouse-tracking technology to examine the differences in the transposed-character effect and the substituted-character effect during the recognition of four-character Chinese words between prelingually deaf adults (PDAs) and their hearing counterparts. The PDAs were found to experience greater difficulties in recognizing Chinese written pseudowords although both groups exhibited significant transposed-character effects with lower accuracies, longer response times, and larger areas under the curve in transposed-character pseudoword conditions. Furthermore, the PDAs demonstrated more pronounced substituted-character effects in the substituted-character pseudoword conditions compared with hearing people. These results revealed that Chinese written word recognition of the hearing participants followed the multiple-route model derived from alphabetic languages, while PDAs tend to rely more on whole-word and orthographic processing due to their limited access to phonological information. This study can provide theoretical guidance and potential targeted intervention measures for enhancing the reading abilities of deaf individuals. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2026 APA, all rights reserved).