Eye movements when reading text messaging (txt msgng).
The growing popularity of mobile-phone technology has led to changes in the way people--particularly younger people--communicate. A clear example of this is the advent of Short Message Service (SMS) language, which includes orthographic abbreviations (e.g., omitting vowels, as in wk, week) and phonetic respelling (e.g., using u instead of you). In the present study, we examined the pattern of eye movements during reading of SMS sentences (e.g., my hols wr gr8), relative to normally written sentences, in a sample of skilled "texters". SMS sentences were created by using (mostly) orthographic or phonological abbreviations. Results showed that there is a reading cost--both at a local level and at a global level--for individuals who are highly expert in SMS language. Furthermore, phonological abbreviations resulted in a greater cost than orthographic abbreviations.
Universitat de València, Valencia, Spain.
Manuel
M
Perea
Joana
J
Acha
Manuel
M
Carreiras
D001288:Attention / Q000502:physiology*; D005133:Eye Movements / Q000502:physiology*; D005260:Female; D005403:Fixation, Ocular / Q000502:physiology; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D010364:Pattern Recognition, Visual / Q000502:physiology*; D010700:Phonetics; D011930:Reaction Time / Q000502:physiology; D011932:Reading; D055815:Young Adult