Research on Literacy of Manga by Gaze Measurement System

2018 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

• Project/Area Number: 16K12565
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Challenging Exploratory Research
• Allocation Type: Multi-year Fund
• Research Field: Learning support system
• Research Institution: Kobe Design University
• Principal Investigator: Hashimoto Eiji 神戸芸術工科大学, 芸術工学部, 教授 (50218418)
• Project Period (FY): 2016-04-01 – 2019-03-31
• Keywords: eye tracking / 視線 / 注視 / まんが / コマ割り / 吹き出し

Outline of Final Research Achievements

Communication by eye gaze is a common practice. But what are we looking at through our eyes? How we gather meaning with our eyes. There have been many experiments on eye trackers for still pictures, but there is little discussion about continuous frame pictures like manga.
In this study, we use a gaze measurement system　(eye trucking system) to have a comic watching rule research on the screen. This system records the position, movement, and time of the gaze movement. The viewer continues reading the manga on the screen without consciousness what he is watching and turn the page. The following was found through this experiment.(1)Focus on the center of the screen(page).(2)Watch Following the speech balloon.(3)There is a tendency not to gaze at the background.(4)Search for people at first.(5)Gaze the face(mainly eye, mouth).(6)Sometimes return to the previous page to confirm the development of the plot.

Free Research Field

映像理論

Academic Significance and Societal Importance of the Research Achievements

本研究において3冊のジャンルが異なるまんが使って、視線がどのようにページを移動していくか、あるいは、どの描写に注視するかを研究した。
その結果、まんがを見ることには一定の法則があることが確認された。画面中央への視線の集中、吹き出しを拾い読みすること、背景は注視しないこと、人を優先的に見ること、顔に注視すること等。このことは、読みやすくわかりやすいまんが制作のヒントになると考えられる。