In practical scenarios, numerous symbolic signs may not be rapidly and accurately comprehended due to poor design or unfamiliarity regarding their intended meanings. Previous studies have shown that combining symbols with text effectively enhances the comprehension of signs. However, the underlying factors and cognitive mechanisms for this phenomenon have remained unexplored. To gain a deeper understanding of these factors, we categorized symbols into three comprehension levels: low, medium, and high, based on a standard comprehension test. Subsequently, we displayed signs using three different conditions: text-only, symbol-only, and symbol with text, making it a 3 (level of comprehension) x 3 (display condition) two-factor experiment. In the eye-tracking experiment, the Average Fixation Duration indicator suggests that, among the three display conditions, text-only exhibits the lowest cognitive processing difficulty, and the symbol-only display condition has the highest cognitive processing difficulty. Additionally, compared to the symbol-only display condition, the symbol with text display condition significantly reduces comprehension reaction time and substantially improves correct comprehension scores; the percentage of time spent on the text area of interest reveals the underlying reasons: participants allocate their visual attention to the text area according to the comprehension level of symbols. Furthermore, participants consistently direct their initial attention to the symbols in the symbol with text display condition. All these findings provide valuable insights for designing and displaying signs in practical applications.

中文翻译：

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符号和文本如何结合起来促进符号理解：来自眼动追踪的证据

在实际场景中，许多符号符号可能由于设计不当或对其含义不熟悉而无法快速准确地理解。先前的研究表明，将符号与文本相结合可以有效地增强对符号的理解。然而，这种现象的潜在因素和认知机制尚未被探索。为了更深入地了解这些因素，我们根据标准理解测试将符号分为三个理解级别：低、中和高。随后，我们使用三种不同的条件显示标志：仅文本、仅符号和带有文本的符号，使其成为 3（理解水平）x 3（显示条件）双因素实验。在眼球追踪实验中，平均注视持续时间指标表明，在三种显示条件中，仅文本显示条件的认知处理难度最低，仅符号显示条件的认知处理难度最高。此外，与仅符号显示条件相比，带有文本显示条件的符号显着缩短了理解反应时间，并大幅提高了正确理解分数；花在感兴趣的文本区域上的时间百分比揭示了根本原因：参与者根据符号的理解水平将视觉注意力分配到文本区域。此外，参与者始终将最初的注意力集中在具有文本显示条件的符号中的符号上。所有这些发现为实际应用中设计和显示标志提供了宝贵的见解。