In this blog post, we will look at how eye movement analysis can be used to understand readers’ comprehension and interest levels, as well as its potential applications.
One way to reveal the thought process of a reader while they are reading is through eye movement analysis. By tracking the eye movements of readers as they read, it is possible to understand how they are understanding the text and where they are having difficulty. This can be useful in various fields, such as reading education, marketing, and psychology. This method analyzes the characteristics of eye movements, based on the assumption that the thought process is reflected in eye movements.
According to research focusing on eye movements, when reading, readers focus on words that they consider important or unfamiliar. When reading, readers show fixation, where their eyes stop on a word, and saccades, which occur between fixations. Saccades are divided into short saccades, where the eyes move from one word to the next, and long saccades, where the eyes skip words. When fixation was observed, the meaning of the word was understood, but when jumps were observed, the meaning of the skipped word was not understood. When reading, the length and frequency of fixation and the length and direction of jumps differed depending on the importance and familiarity of the words to the reader. The more important or unfamiliar the word was to the reader, the longer the fixation time. Such words were often read multiple times as readers read forward and then returned to reread them, resulting in a high number of fixations. In such cases, the jumps differed from the direction of reading. When important or unfamiliar words appeared in succession, the eyes stopped on each word, resulting in short jumps.
The pattern of eye movement changes as the reader’s reading ability develops. As reading ability develops, when reading text at the same level as before or rereading previously read text, the eyes do not fixate on each word, and the number of fixations and fixation time decrease, and long jumps over words are frequently observed. This is because as learning and reading experience accumulate, knowledge of text structure, vocabulary, and background knowledge increase. Another reason is that as the purpose of reading becomes clearer, readers become able to accurately select important words in a text. At this point, frequent jumps occur, such as jumps to recheck words that have already been read in order to understand the context, and jumps to search for words that will be read next.
Eye movement analysis is a particularly important tool for understanding the characteristics of different readers. For example, when comparing the eye movements of novice and experienced readers, novice readers fix their eyes on each word, while experienced readers read faster by making long jumps. This serves as a clear indicator of the difference in reading ability. In addition, readers’ eye movements are useful for determining how interested they are in a particular topic or text. When they are interested in a section, they fix their gaze on it for longer, make shorter jumps, and return to read it more often.
For example, in the field of marketing, the effectiveness of advertisements can be evaluated by analyzing the eye movements of consumers. By identifying which parts of an advertisement consumers focus on the longest and which elements attract their attention, more effective advertising strategies can be developed. This provides important information on what designs and messages companies should use to capture the attention of consumers.
Such analysis can be used as important data for diagnosing and improving students’ reading abilities in educational settings. For example, by observing students’ eye movements, it is possible to identify which parts they find difficult and which words they focus on. This allows for the development of customized teaching methods and the effective improvement of each student’s reading ability. Eye movement analysis can also be used in marketing to identify which parts of advertisements or web pages consumers pay attention to, enabling more efficient design and content placement.
In conclusion, eye movement analysis is an important tool for understanding readers’ thought processes and reading abilities, and can be used in various fields, such as personalized education and effective marketing strategy development. This analysis method is an area that is expected to undergo further research and development in the future, contributing to the resolution of various issues related to reading. Through eye movement analysis, we will open the way to gain a deeper understanding of readers and provide solutions tailored to their needs.
