The Effect of Verbalization on Eye-movements During Repeated Image Processing
In the present study we investigated the relationship between verbal description of the image and its visual processing. The aim of our study was to reveal whether the verbalization of the previously seen image influences the parameters of eye movements during its re-examination. We conducted two eye-tracking experiments and used classical paintings as stimuli. In our Experiment 1 subjects were looking at the painting, and then one group was asked to compose coherent verbal description of this painting, whereas another group had a nonverbal distracting task. After that both groups re-observed the picture. All subjects demonstrated two stages of visual processing during the first viewing: the ambient viewing, characterized by short fixations and long saccades, followed by focal viewing, characterized by longer fixations and shorter saccades. Gaze-pattern during the second viewing differed between the groups. Subjects who hadn`t verbalized the painting continued its focal processing, as if they did not interrupt the examination. Subjects who had verbalized the painting began the second viewing with the ambient processing, and only few seconds later shifted to the focal processing. In the Experiment 2 subjects were presented with 36 paintings with different verbal tasks. The results showed that the ambient processing arises as a result of any verbalization associated with the image, regardless of whether it requires detailed, analytical processing of the image (naming individual objects) or holistic processing (naming the general characteristics of the image). These results demonstrated that verbalization of the picture affected oculomotor behavior during its repeated viewing.