Attention and eye movement metrics in visual world eye tracking

This chapter introduces the visual world paradigm, with the aim of identifying both the opportunities and challenges researchers are presented with when using overt visual attention as an index of the cognitive processes and mechanisms involved in a variety of language processing tasks. The chapter also provides an overview of the linking hypotheses that underlie the coordination of visual and linguistic information. Finally, the chapter discusses key properties of the eye-movement metrics used in the visual world studies – and different approaches to their analysis – in order to support sound interpretations with respect to the underlying theories of visually situated language comprehension that these studies are used to investigate.