The impact of text segmentation on subtitle reading

Understanding the way people watch subtitled films has become a central concern for subtitling researchers in recent years. Both subtitling scholars and professionals generally believe that in order to reduce cognitive load and enhance readability, line breaks in twoline subtitles should follow synt...

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Detalles Bibliográficos
Autores: Gerber Morón, Olivia|||0000-0001-6513-3662, Szarkowska, Agnieszka|||0000-0002-0048-993X, Woll, Bencie|||0000-0002-3300-4775
Tipo de recurso: artículo
Fecha de publicación:2018
País:España
Institución:Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona
Repositorio:Dipòsit Digital de Documents de la UAB
Idioma:inglés
OAI Identifier:oai:ddd.uab.cat:253799
Acceso en línea:https://ddd.uab.cat/record/253799
https://dx.doi.org/urn:doi:10.16910/11.4.2
Access Level:acceso abierto
Palabra clave:Eye movement
Reading
Region of interest
Subtitling
Audiovisual translation
Media accessibility
Cognitive load
Segmentation
Line breaks
Revisits
Descripción
Sumario:Understanding the way people watch subtitled films has become a central concern for subtitling researchers in recent years. Both subtitling scholars and professionals generally believe that in order to reduce cognitive load and enhance readability, line breaks in twoline subtitles should follow syntactic units. However, previous research has been inconclusive as to whether syntactic-based segmentation facilitates comprehension and reduces cognitive load. In this study, we assessed the impact of text segmentation on subtitle processing among different groups of viewers: hearing people with different mother tongues (English, Polish, and Spanish) and deaf, hard of hearing, and hearing people with English as a first language. We measured three indicators of cognitive load (difficulty, effort, and frustration) as well as comprehension and eye tracking variables. Participants watched two video excerpts with syntactically and non-syntactically segmented subtitles. The aim was to determine whether syntactic-based text segmentation as well as the viewers' linguistic background influence subtitle processing. Our findings show that non-syntactically segmented subtitles induced higher cognitive load, but they did not adversely affect comprehension. The results are discussed in the context of cognitive load, audiovisual translation, and deafness.