Using Eye Movements and Spoken Discourse as Windows to Inner Space

• The purpose of this paper is to show how eye-tracking methodology can be used to study ‘inner space’; both from a theoretical point of view – the existence (or not) of internal image representations – as well as from an applied point of view – the usage of mental imagery in thinking and reasoning. First, we introduce the reader to the mental imagery debate. Second, we summarize studies on mental imagery in different areas of research. Third, we focus on our studies, described in Johansson, Holsanova and Holmqvist (2005, 2006), where we developed a method to study ‘inner space’, and showed that eye movements do to a high degree reflect spatiality during visualizations of both pictures and spoken scene descriptions. Fourth, we discuss theoretical implications, advantages and limitations of this methodology and relate them to current theories of mental imagery, perception and mental simulation. Fifth, we mention relevant application areas and show how our method can be used in thinking and reasoning.

Ämnesord

SAMHÄLLSVETENSKAP  -- Medie- och kommunikationsvetenskap -- Mänsklig interaktion med IKT (hsv//swe)

SOCIAL SCIENCES  -- Media and Communications -- Human Aspects of ICT (hsv//eng)

Nyckelord

eye-tracking

mental imagery

verbal reports

spatial cognition

visual attention

mental models

spatial language

Publikations- och innehållstyp

kap (ämneskategori)

ref (ämneskategori)