Temporal eye-voice span as a dynamic indicator for cognitive effort during speech processing: A comparative study of reading aloud and sight translation

Zhou, H.; Weng, Y.; Zheng, B.

Abstract

This chapter examines the dynamic latency between human translators’ reading input and speaking output during reading aloud and sight translation. It aims to determine whether the temporal eye-voice span (EVS) at sentence level could work as a dynamitic indicator of cognitive effort during speech processing. Thirty participants performed both the reading aloud and sight translation tasks with either English or Chinese texts. Their eye movements and speech outputs were recorded by an eye-tracker and an audio recorder, respectively. EVS at sentence initial and sentence terminal positions in the reading aloud and sight translation tasks were analyzed. The results show that the lengths of both sentence-initial and sentence-terminal EVS in sight translation tasks are significantly longer than those in reading aloud tasks. This is in line with results of total gaze fixation duration and fixation count, which are closely related to cognitive effort. Further correlation tests show that both initial and terminal EVS yield a positive although weak correlation with the fixation indexes in the sight translation tasks, while discrepant results emerge in the reading aloud tasks. Hence, we suggest that temporal EVS can be used to discriminate different types of reading-speaking tasks and has the potential to serve as a dynamic indicator of cognitive effort during sight translation.

Citation

Zhou, H., Weng, Y., & Zheng, B. (2021). Temporal eye-voice span as a dynamic indicator for cognitive effort during speech processing: A comparative study of reading aloud and sight translation. In R. Munoz, S. Sun, & D. Li (Eds.), Advances in Cognitive Translation Studies (161-179). (1). Springer Verlag. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-16-2070-6_8

• Online Publication Date: Nov 19, 2021
• Publication Date: 2021
• Deposit Date: Sep 15, 2021
• Publicly Available Date: Sep 15, 2021
• Publisher: Springer Verlag
• Pages: 161-179
• Series Title: New Frontiers in Translation Studies
• Edition: 1
• Book Title: Advances in Cognitive Translation Studies
• ISBN: 9789811620690
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-16-2070-6_8
• Public URL: https://durham-repository.worktribe.com/output/1624358