Do eye movements go with fictive motion.pdf

Do eye movements go with fictive motion? Teenie Matlock (tmatlock@) Department of Psychology, Stanford University Stanford, CA 94305 USA Daniel C. Richardson (richardson@) Department of Psychology, Stanford University Stanford, CA 94305 USA Abstract Cognitive scientists interested in the link between language and visual experience have shown that linguistic input influences eye movements. Research in this area, however, tends to focus on literal language alone. In the current study, we investigate whether figurative language influences eye movements. In our experiment, participants viewed two-dimensional depictions of static spatial scenes while they heard either fictive motion sentences, such as The palm trees run along the highway, or non-fictive motion sentences, such as The palm trees are next to the highway. Overall, sentence type influenced participants’ eye movements. Specifically, gaze duration on the figure (e.g., palm trees) was longer with fictive motion sentences than with non- fictive motion sentences. Our results demonstrate that figurative language influences visual experience. They provide further evidence that fictive motion processing includes mentally simulated motion. Introduction Imagine that you and a friend are sitting in a courtyard chatting. During the course of the conversation, you occasionally glance over at a long, thin stationary object on the ground. You assume the object is a tree branch or a walking stick until your friend says, “Oh! Look what slithered onto the courtyard.” At that point, your perceptions and conceptions of the object dramatically change. The object goes from a piece of wood to a snake. Situations like these––in which language influences the interpretation of objects and actions––are ubiquitous. The question addressed here is whether this influence is limited to literal language, or whether it also includes figurative language. We are especially interested in whether sentences such as The road goes through the