Gerber-Morón Olivia, Szarkowska Agnieszka, Woll Bencie
Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, Spain.
University College London, UK.
J Eye Mov Res. 2018 Jun 30;11(4). doi: 10.16910/jemr.11.4.2.
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.
近年来，了解人们观看带字幕电影的方式已成为字幕研究人员的核心关注点。字幕学者和专业人士普遍认为，为了减轻认知负担并提高可读性，两行字幕中的换行应遵循句法单元。然而，先前的研究对于基于句法的分割是否有助于理解并减轻认知负担尚无定论。在本研究中，我们评估了文本分割对不同观众群体字幕处理的影响：以不同母语（英语、波兰语和西班牙语）为母语的听力正常者，以及聋人、听力障碍者和以英语为第一语言的听力正常者。我们测量了认知负担的三个指标（难度、努力程度和挫败感）以及理解和眼动追踪变量。参与者观看了两段配有句法分割和非句法分割字幕的视频片段。目的是确定基于句法的文本分割以及观众的语言背景是否会影响字幕处理。我们的研究结果表明，非句法分割的字幕会带来更高的认知负担，但不会对理解产生不利影响。我们将在认知负担、视听翻译和聋人相关背景下对结果进行讨论。
