The Role of Emoticons in Sarcasm Comprehension in Younger and Older Adults: Evidence from an Eye-Tracking Experiment

Filik, Ruth; Howman, Hannah Elizabeth

Abstract

We present an eye-tracking experiment examining moment-to-moment processes underlying the comprehension of emoticons. Younger (18-30) and older (65+) participants had their eye movements recorded whilst reading scenarios containing comments that were ambiguous between literal or sarcastic interpretations (e.g., But you’re so quick though). Comments were accompanied by wink emoticons or full stops. Results showed that participants read earlier parts of the wink scenarios faster than those with full stops, but then spent more time reading the text surrounding the emoticon. Thus, readers moved more quickly to the end of the text when there was a device that may aid interpretation, but then spent more time processing the conflict between the superficially positive nature of the comment and the tone implied by the emoticon. Interestingly, the wink increased the likelihood of a sarcastic interpretation in younger adults only, suggesting that perceiver-related factors play an important role in emoticon interpretation.

• Journal Article Type: Article
• Acceptance Date: Apr 6, 2020
• Online Publication Date: Apr 27, 2020
• Publication Date: Apr 27, 2020
• Deposit Date: Jun 2, 2020
• Publicly Available Date: Jun 2, 2020
• Journal: Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology
• Print ISSN: 1747-0218
• Electronic ISSN: 1747-0226
• Publisher: SAGE Publications
• Peer Reviewed: Peer Reviewed
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1177/1747021820922804
• Keywords: Experimental and Cognitive Psychology; Physiology (medical); Physiology; General Psychology; Neuropsychology and Physiological Psychology; General Medicine
• Public URL: https://nottingham-repository.worktribe.com/output/4562347
• Publisher URL: https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/metrics/10.1177/1747021820922804