Eye-tracking Investigation of Visual Search Strategies When Mediated by Language

Traditional parallel and serial descriptions of the visual search process are often inadequate when describing recent findings. Accordingly, literature and computational models have evolved from a dichotomous parallel and serial explanation to an account of search efficiency that is graded and continuous. In our current experiment, we replicate findings showing concurrent incremental information processing, via auditory spoken language, mediates visual search and improves search efficiency (Spivey et al., 2001; Reali et al., 2006; Chiu & Spivey, 2012). Novel to this study is the use of eye-tracking to investigate the role of language in mediating and improving strategies for visual search. We find evidence that search is best described as a purely parallel mechanism that immediately and rapidly integrates linguistic and visual information. This finding supports an interactive account of visual attention and spoken language.