To Dash or to Dawdle: Verb-Associated Speed of Motion Influences Eye Movements during Spoken Sentence Comprehension.

ABSTRACT: In describing motion events verbs of manner provide information about the speed of agents or objects in those events. We used eye tracking to investigate how inferences about this verb-associated speed of motion would influence the time course of attention to a visual scene that matched an event described in language. Eye movements were recorded as participants heard spoken sentences with verbs that implied a fast ("dash") or slow ("dawdle") movement of an agent towards a goal. These sentences were heard whilst participants concurrently looked at scenes depicting the agent and a path which led to the goal object. Our results indicate a mapping of events onto the visual scene consistent with participants mentally simulating the movement of the agent along the path towards the goal: when the

SUBMITTER: Lindsay S 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC3689699 | biostudies-literature | 2013

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature