Related Experiment Video
Updated: Mar 29, 2026

Eye Tracking During Visually Situated Language Comprehension: Flexibility and Limitations in Uncovering Visual Context Effects
Published on: November 30, 2018
Listeners use speaker identity to access representations of spatial perspective during online language comprehension
Rachel A Ryskin1, Ranxiao Frances Wang2, Sarah Brown-Schmidt2
1Department of Psychology, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, United States.
Abstract:
Little is known about how listeners represent another person's spatial perspective during language processing (e.g., two people looking at a map from different angles). Can listeners use contextual cues such as speaker identity to access a representation of the interlocutor's spatial perspective? In two eye-tracking experiments, participants received auditory instructions to move objects around a screen from two randomly alternating spatial perspectives (45° vs. 315° or 135° vs. 225° rotations from the participant's viewpoint). Instructions were spoken either by one voice, where the speaker's perspective switched at random, or by two voices, where each speaker maintained one perspective. Analysis of participant eye-gaze showed that interpretation of the instructions improved when each viewpoint was associated with a different voice. These findings demonstrate that listeners can learn mappings between individual talkers and viewpoints, and use these mappings to guide online language processing.
More Related Videos
Related Concept Videos
Higher Mental Functions of the Brain: Language
Language formation and comprehension take place in the dominant hemisphere. The dominant hemisphere is responsible for understanding the meaning of spoken, written, or sign language, as well as the ability to communicate. For most people, the left hemisphere is the dominant one. The right hemisphere, then, gives tone and emotional context to the...
Depth Perception and Spatial Vision
Language and Cognition
Lateralization
The Representativeness Heuristic
Components of Language

