Wai Leung Wong - Academia.edu (original) (raw)

Papers by Wai Leung Wong

bioRxiv (Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory), Jul 25, 2023

Two classic experimental paradigms -masked repetition priming and the boundary paradigmhave playe... more Two classic experimental paradigms -masked repetition priming and the boundary paradigmhave played a pivotal role in understanding the process of visual word recognition. Traditionally, these paradigms have often been employed by different communities of researchers, with their own long-standing research traditions. Nevertheless, a review of the literature suggests that the brain-electric correlates of word processing established with both paradigms may show interesting similarities, in particular with regard to the location, timing, and direction of N1 and N250 effects. However, as of yet, no direct comparison has been undertaken between both paradigms. In the current study, we used combined eye-tracking/EEG to perform such a withinsubject comparison using the same materials (single Chinese characters) as stimuli. Our results show the typical early repetition effects of N1 and N250 for both paradigms. However, repetition effects in N250 (i.e., a reduced negativity following identical-word primes/previews as compared to different-word primes/previews) were larger in the boundary paradigm than with masked priming. For N1 effects, repetition effects were similar across the two paradigms showing a larger N1 after repetitions as compared to alternations. Therefore, the results indicate that at the neural level, a briefly presented and masked foveal prime produces qualitatively similar facilitatory effects on visual word recognition as a parafoveal preview before a saccade, although such effects appear to be stronger in the latter case.

An influential theory in the field of visual object recognition proposes that fast magnocellular ... more An influential theory in the field of visual object recognition proposes that fast magnocellular (M) information facilitates neural processing of spatially more fine-grained but slower parvocellular (P) information. While written words can be considered as a special type of visual objects, it is unknown whether magnocellular facilitation also plays a role in reading. We used a masked priming paradigm that has been shown to result in neural facilitation in visual word processing and tested whether these facilitating effects are mediated by the magnocellular system. In two experiments, we manipulated the influence of magnocellular and parvocellular systems on visual processing of a contextually predictable target character by contrasting high versus low spatial frequency and luminance versus color contrast, respectively. In addition, unchanged (normal) primes were included in both experiments as a manipulation check. As expected, unchanged primes elicited typical repetition effects in...

Molecular autism, 2018

Past studies have shown that robot-based intervention was effective in improving gestural use in ... more Past studies have shown that robot-based intervention was effective in improving gestural use in children with autism spectrum disorders (ASD). The present study examined whether children with ASD could catch up to the level of gestural production found in age-matched children with typical development and whether they showed an increase in verbal imitation after the completion of robot-based training. We also explored the cognitive and motor skills associated with gestural learning. Children with ASD were randomly assigned to two groups. Four- to 6-year-old children with ASD in the intervention group ( = 15) received four 30-min robot-based gestural training sessions. In each session, a social robot, NAO, narrated five stories and gestured (e.g., both hands clapping for an awesome expression). Children with ASD were told to imitate the gestures during training. Age-matched children with ASD in the wait-list control group ( = 15) and age-matched children with typical development ( = ...

Scientific Reports

The present study aimed to identify behavioral and neurophysiological correlates of dyslexia whic... more The present study aimed to identify behavioral and neurophysiological correlates of dyslexia which could potentially predict reading difficulty. One hundred and three Chinese children with and without dyslexia (Grade 2 or 3, 7- to 11-year-old) completed both verbal and visual working memory (n-back) tasks with concurrent EEG recording. Data of 74 children with sufficient usable EEG data are reported here. Overall, the typically developing control group (N = 28) responded significantly faster and more accurately than the group with dyslexia (N = 46), in both types of tasks. Group differences were also found in EEG band power in the retention phase of the tasks. Moreover, forward stepwise logistic regression demonstrated that both behavioral and neurophysiological measures predicted reading difficulty uniquely. Dyslexia was associated with higher frontal midline theta activity and reduced upper-alpha power in the posterior region. This finding is discussed in relation to the neural ef...

Bilingualism: Language and Cognition, 2021

Language control is important for bilinguals to produce words in the right language. While most p... more Language control is important for bilinguals to produce words in the right language. While most previous studies investigated language control using visual stimuli with vocal responses, language control regarding auditory stimuli and manual responses was rarely examined. In the present study, an alternating language switching paradigm was used to investigate language control mechanism under two input modalities (visual and auditory) and two output modalities (manual and vocal) by measuring switch costs in both error percentage and reaction time (RT) in forty-eight Cantonese–English early bilinguals. Results showed that higher switch costs in RT were found with auditory stimuli than visual stimuli, possibly due to shorter preparation time with auditory stimuli. In addition, switch costs in RT and error percentage could be obtained not only in speaking, but also in handwriting. Therefore, language control mechanisms, such as inhibition of the non-target language, may be shared between...

bioRxiv (Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory), Jul 25, 2023

Two classic experimental paradigms -masked repetition priming and the boundary paradigmhave playe... more Two classic experimental paradigms -masked repetition priming and the boundary paradigmhave played a pivotal role in understanding the process of visual word recognition. Traditionally, these paradigms have often been employed by different communities of researchers, with their own long-standing research traditions. Nevertheless, a review of the literature suggests that the brain-electric correlates of word processing established with both paradigms may show interesting similarities, in particular with regard to the location, timing, and direction of N1 and N250 effects. However, as of yet, no direct comparison has been undertaken between both paradigms. In the current study, we used combined eye-tracking/EEG to perform such a withinsubject comparison using the same materials (single Chinese characters) as stimuli. Our results show the typical early repetition effects of N1 and N250 for both paradigms. However, repetition effects in N250 (i.e., a reduced negativity following identical-word primes/previews as compared to different-word primes/previews) were larger in the boundary paradigm than with masked priming. For N1 effects, repetition effects were similar across the two paradigms showing a larger N1 after repetitions as compared to alternations. Therefore, the results indicate that at the neural level, a briefly presented and masked foveal prime produces qualitatively similar facilitatory effects on visual word recognition as a parafoveal preview before a saccade, although such effects appear to be stronger in the latter case.

An influential theory in the field of visual object recognition proposes that fast magnocellular ... more An influential theory in the field of visual object recognition proposes that fast magnocellular (M) information facilitates neural processing of spatially more fine-grained but slower parvocellular (P) information. While written words can be considered as a special type of visual objects, it is unknown whether magnocellular facilitation also plays a role in reading. We used a masked priming paradigm that has been shown to result in neural facilitation in visual word processing and tested whether these facilitating effects are mediated by the magnocellular system. In two experiments, we manipulated the influence of magnocellular and parvocellular systems on visual processing of a contextually predictable target character by contrasting high versus low spatial frequency and luminance versus color contrast, respectively. In addition, unchanged (normal) primes were included in both experiments as a manipulation check. As expected, unchanged primes elicited typical repetition effects in...

Molecular autism, 2018

Past studies have shown that robot-based intervention was effective in improving gestural use in ... more Past studies have shown that robot-based intervention was effective in improving gestural use in children with autism spectrum disorders (ASD). The present study examined whether children with ASD could catch up to the level of gestural production found in age-matched children with typical development and whether they showed an increase in verbal imitation after the completion of robot-based training. We also explored the cognitive and motor skills associated with gestural learning. Children with ASD were randomly assigned to two groups. Four- to 6-year-old children with ASD in the intervention group ( = 15) received four 30-min robot-based gestural training sessions. In each session, a social robot, NAO, narrated five stories and gestured (e.g., both hands clapping for an awesome expression). Children with ASD were told to imitate the gestures during training. Age-matched children with ASD in the wait-list control group ( = 15) and age-matched children with typical development ( = ...

Scientific Reports

The present study aimed to identify behavioral and neurophysiological correlates of dyslexia whic... more The present study aimed to identify behavioral and neurophysiological correlates of dyslexia which could potentially predict reading difficulty. One hundred and three Chinese children with and without dyslexia (Grade 2 or 3, 7- to 11-year-old) completed both verbal and visual working memory (n-back) tasks with concurrent EEG recording. Data of 74 children with sufficient usable EEG data are reported here. Overall, the typically developing control group (N = 28) responded significantly faster and more accurately than the group with dyslexia (N = 46), in both types of tasks. Group differences were also found in EEG band power in the retention phase of the tasks. Moreover, forward stepwise logistic regression demonstrated that both behavioral and neurophysiological measures predicted reading difficulty uniquely. Dyslexia was associated with higher frontal midline theta activity and reduced upper-alpha power in the posterior region. This finding is discussed in relation to the neural ef...

Bilingualism: Language and Cognition, 2021

Language control is important for bilinguals to produce words in the right language. While most p... more Language control is important for bilinguals to produce words in the right language. While most previous studies investigated language control using visual stimuli with vocal responses, language control regarding auditory stimuli and manual responses was rarely examined. In the present study, an alternating language switching paradigm was used to investigate language control mechanism under two input modalities (visual and auditory) and two output modalities (manual and vocal) by measuring switch costs in both error percentage and reaction time (RT) in forty-eight Cantonese–English early bilinguals. Results showed that higher switch costs in RT were found with auditory stimuli than visual stimuli, possibly due to shorter preparation time with auditory stimuli. In addition, switch costs in RT and error percentage could be obtained not only in speaking, but also in handwriting. Therefore, language control mechanisms, such as inhibition of the non-target language, may be shared between...