ИСТИНА

The architecture of cognitive processing of semantic information is represented by specific patterns of the visual field scanning. Studies using eye movement fixation technologies show that specific patterns of visual stimuli analysis are associated with the features of information processing. The hypothesis of this study was that specific scanning patterns when working with verbal material are formed while mastering reading skills in the native language. It was assumed that such patterns remain stable regardless of subsequent linguistic experience. In an experimental study of eye movements in the semantic search task, subjects of three groups, represented by speakers of three languages (Russian, Japanese and Chinese), took part. The task involved search and identification of significant lexical units in letter matrices. This kind of stimulus material makes it possible to break down the complex cognitive organization of reading into shorter fragments of perceptual activity, which makes it possible to isolate specific patterns of eye movements typical for the analysis of verbal information. Current study used material of the English language that was foreign to all participants. The collected data on the effectiveness of word search under the conditions of their vertical and horizontal position in the matrix, as well as the parameters of the respondents' eye-movement activity in completing tasks indicate the specificity of the search schemes used by the respondents of the three analyzed groups. Thus, sequential vertical scanning of the letter field is most typical of Japanese speakers. Representatives of the Russian-speaking group prefer sequential horizontal models, rarely resorting to switching the directions of eye movements from horizontal to vertical in scanning the field. The specificity of reading skills in Chinese students who participated in the study is reflected in the tendency to cross-scan the entire field of the matrix in search of familiar clues or markers of familiar lexical units. It seems that this strategy may be the most efficient in word recognition. However, the data obtained in our study were inconsistent. In part, this is due to the level of English proficiency and interference caused by the actualization of another foreign language (Russian) in the daily communication of respondents from China. However, the results obtained indicate that the cognitive mechanisms of processing lexical information during visual scanning are based on the experience of developing reading skills in the native language and are reflected in patterns of visual search in a foreign language, and possibly in patterns of visual scanning of information not related to lexical information units. Thus, it can be assumed that learning to read in a native language leads to the formation of special cognitive schemes that are used to analyze various kinds of information in the future.