ИСТИНА

An influence of preceding verbal information on eye movement’s parameters during the perception of photographs was studied. 24 images eliciting different emotions (12 pleasant and 12 unpleasant) – landscapes, still-lifes and social scenes – were presented to 82 participants. Four types of titles were created for every photo. The titles differed in emotional tone (positive or negative) and semantic (abstract or specific). The specific title contained a noun naming one of the depicted objects in the image. A region of a picture where the object was located was set as target area of interests (AOI) in analysis. A number of fixations, total fixation’s duration in AOIs, a number of saccades and total saccades amplitude during perception of the photographs were analyzed. The results show that participants tend to estimate images preceded by inconsistent titles (pleasant image with negative title and vice versa) as more neutral than preceded by coherent title or presented without any title. Total saccades amplitude during perception of the photos with inconsistent titles is longer. A number of fixations and total fixation’s duration in AOIs are significantly higher in “specific title” than in “abstract title” conditions. So, preceding title could affect oculomotor activity during image perception.