Take a look at the vase: lexical markers affect oculomotor activity (on the material of excursion genre)

The present paper is devoted to an investigation of the role of lexical markers, which are used by the tour guide to guide the excursionist's attention during an excursion. The aim of this study was to check whether the addressee's eye movements will vary as a function of the marker category used by the tour guide. In order to do so, the authors conducted two eye tracker studies, allocating head-mounted and stationary eye tracker in Study 1 and Study 2, respectively. In Study 1, the authors checked whether the effectiveness of the tour guide manipulation of the addressee's eye movements, manifested in time-to-target, would vary as a function of the marker category. In Study 1, data from 30 participants were analysed (age, M - 18.1, SD = 1.1, 14 female). The eye movements of the participants were recorded individually during the excursion in the Museum of Rare Books, Tomsk State University. The text of the excursion was individual for each participant. The data were recorded in a natural environment, the tour guide was not advised on the usage of any special markers and talked freely. An ANOVA with repeated measures were used with marker category as an independent variable and time-to target (time from the nomination of object to the first fixation on it, TtT) as a dependent variable. The effect of gesture was controlled. The data showed four distinct categories of a lexical marker: visual-locative, locative, indicative and zero. Results of the first study showed that TtT varies as a function of the marker category used, F (2.259, 65.52) = 111.95, p<.05, with locative and visual-locative markers having the smallest TtT. In Study 2, the authors checked whether the effectiveness of the tour guide manipulation of the addressee's eye movements, manifested in time-to-target and time-on-target, would vary as a function of the marker category. The data from 42 participants were analysed (age, M = 21.5, SD = 2.2; 28 female). The participants were presented with a photo of the museum screen while listening to the recorded text on rare books. The text was the same for each participant. The order of markers was pseudorandomised for each participant to account for the effects of first encounter. Each participant was presented with one marker from a category, which was picked by experts as an iconic for the category. Marker categories were adjusted and now five categories were used: visual, visual-locative, locative, indicative and zero. The TtT and the time-on target (dwell time on a target, ToT) were investigated. An ANOVA with repeated measures was used with the marker category as an independent variable and time-to-target as a dependent variable. Also, an ANOVA with repeated measures was used with the marker category as an independent variable and ToT as a dependent variable. The data from Study 2 replicated the findings of the head-mounted eye tracker study; although, the pattern of the results was slightly different. TtT varied as a function of the marker category, F (2.44, 100.16) = 13.94, p=.0001. In this study, the visual marker category had the smallest TtT. The results of the study showed that ToT also varied as a function of the marker category, F (2.21, 84.02) = 11.02, p=. 0001. The post-hoc test showed significant differences in ToT between the zero category and all other categories. The smallest ToT was shown by the zero category. Overall, the results are discussed in the framework of semantic differences between categories and in the more general language-mediated eye movement paradigm. The data bring evidence that the addressee's eye movements indeed vary as a function of the marker category, with visual, visual-locative and locative being the most effective.

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