That’s good news ☹ : Semantic congruency effects in emoji processing

Journal article


Beyersmann, Elisabeth, Wegener, Signy and Kemp, Nenagh. (2023). That’s good news ☹ : Semantic congruency effects in emoji processing. Journal of Media Psychology. 35(1), pp. 17-27. https://doi.org/10.1027/1864-1105/a000342
AuthorsBeyersmann, Elisabeth, Wegener, Signy and Kemp, Nenagh
Abstract

The use of emojis in digital communication has become increasingly popular, but how emojis are processed and integrated in reading processes remains underexplored. This study used eye-tracking to monitor university students’ (n = 47) eye movements while reading single-line text messages with a face emoji embedded medially. Messages contained a semantically congruent emoji (e.g., That’s good news 😊 tell me more), a semantically incongruent emoji (e.g., That’s good news ☹ tell me more), or a dash (e.g., That’s good news – tell me more). Results revealed that emoji congruency did not influence early fixation measures (first fixation duration and gaze duration), nor the probability of regressions. However, there was a significant congruency effect in total reading time and trial dwell time, showing that incongruence incurred a processing cost. The present results extend previously reported semantic congruency effects in sentence reading to the processing of emojis. This result suggests that the semantic content conveyed by face emojis is integrated with sentence context late in processing. We further found that the use of congruent emojis improved the relationship between sender and receiver: Ratings collected separately suggested that message senders were liked better if they included congruent than incongruent emojis. Overall, emojis attracted attention: Participants were twice as likely to fixate on emojis than on dashes, and to fixate on emojis for longer.

Keywordsemoji processing; eye-tracking; semantic congruency; digital communication; text messaging
Year2023
JournalJournal of Media Psychology
Journal citation35 (1), pp. 17-27
PublisherHogrefe Publishing
ISSN1864-1105
2151-2388
Digital Object Identifier (DOI)https://doi.org/10.1027/1864-1105/a000342
Scopus EID2-s2.0-85128569144
Page range17-27
FunderAustralian Research Council (ARC)
Publisher's version
License
All rights reserved
File Access Level
Controlled
Output statusPublished
Publication dates
Online06 Apr 2022
Publication process dates
Deposited12 Oct 2023
ARC Funded ResearchThis output has been funded, wholly or partially, under the Australian Research Council Act 2001
Grant IDDE190100850
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