ABSTRACT
Eye-tracking experiments provide results by recording readers’ eye fixations on a particular page, as viewed on a screen. Our aim in this chapter is to show correspondences between reference points (Langacker 1993) and these eye-foci positions. Drawing on the results of an eye-tracking experiment we address the following questions in our analysis of the data: Where do readers focus their gaze in a multimodal text? How can these findings be accounted for in terms of a reference-point perspective? Moreover, how can the interpretation of the findings be enhanced in view of cognitive affordance and with regard to metaphorical patterns? What are the implications of the findings of the eye-tracking experiment for multimodal material design, especially printed matter?
