Acta Psychologica Sinica
This study compares cognitive processing of English words, Chinese characters, Oracle Bone Script, Naxi Dongba script, and pictures to reveal the cognitive mechanisms underlying different symbol types. Using perceptual similarity and semantic consistency judgment tasks (Experiment 1) and naming/categorization tasks (Experiment 2), the authors found: (1) perceptual and semantic judgments differ across symbol types, following an order consistent with scripts' historical evolution; (2) naming and categorization show asymmetric patterns—English/Chinese words are named faster than categorized, while Oracle Bone Script, Dongba script, and pictures are categorized faster than named; (3) responses to Chinese characters and pictures are faster than to Dongba and Oracle Bone scripts; (4) further asymmetries exist between word/picture and early-script processing. These differences relate to symbols' visual features, distinctiveness, encoding methods, and familiarity, providing psychological evidence for script evolution and the nature of Oracle Bone and Dongba scripts.
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