Kamide, Y., Lindsay, S., Scheepers, C. and Kukona, A. (2016) Event processing in the visual world: projected motion paths during spoken sentence comprehension. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory, and Cognition, 42(5), pp. 804-812. (doi: 10.1037/xlm0000199) (PMID:26478958) (PMCID:PMC4849431)
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110754.pdf - Accepted Version 1MB |
Abstract
Motion events in language describe the movement of an entity to another location along a path. In 2 eye-tracking experiments, we found that comprehension of motion events involves the online construction of a spatial mental model that integrates language with the visual world. In Experiment 1, participants listened to sentences describing the movement of an agent to a goal while viewing visual scenes depicting the agent, goal, and empty space in between. Crucially, verbs suggested either upward (e.g., jump) or downward (e.g., crawl) paths. We found that in the rare event of fixating the empty space between the agent and goal, visual attention was biased upward or downward in line with the verb. In Experiment 2, visual scenes depicted a central obstruction, which imposed further constraints on the paths and increased the likelihood of fixating the empty space between the agent and goal. The results from this experiment corroborated and refined the previous findings. Specifically, eye-movement effects started immediately after hearing the verb and were in line with data from an additional mouse-tracking task that encouraged a more explicit spatial reenactment of the motion event. In revealing how event comprehension operates in the visual world, these findings suggest a mental simulation process whereby spatial details of motion events are mapped onto the world through visual attention. The strength and detectability of such effects in overt eye-movements is constrained by the visual world and the fact that perceivers rarely fixate regions of empty space.
| Item Type: | Articles |
|---|---|
| Additional Information: | This article may not exactly replicate the authoritative document published in the APA journal. It is not the copy of record. |
| Status: | Published |
| Refereed: | Yes |
| Glasgow Author(s) Enlighten ID: | Scheepers, Dr Christoph |
| Authors: | Kamide, Y., Lindsay, S., Scheepers, C., and Kukona, A. |
| College/School: | College of Medical Veterinary and Life Sciences > School of Psychology & Neuroscience |
| Journal Name: | Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory, and Cognition |
| Publisher: | American Psychological Association |
| ISSN: | 0278-7393 |
| ISSN (Online): | 1939-1285 |
| Copyright Holders: | Copyright © 2015 American Psychological Association |
| First Published: | First published in Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory and Cognition 42(5): 804-812 |
| Publisher Policy: | Reproduced in accordance with the copyright policy of the publisher. |
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