سیدمحمد میرغضنفر

A thorough review of the literature reveals a dearth of research on the use of spoken short forms in Persian subtitles, which can significantly affect subtitle reception. The present thesis is an attempt to narrow this gap by investigating the impact of spoken short forms in Persian subtitles of English movies on viewers’ cognitive load and visual processing to determine their reception efficiency based o  Lev?’  minimax principle.  To this end, an eye-tracking study was conducted utilizing the Tobii TX۳۰۰ eye-tracker. Gaze data were collected from a cohort of ۲۴ Iranian undergraduate students aged ۱۸ to ۲۲ as they read the Persian subtitles with and without spoken short forms. The collected gaze data were then triangulated with the qualitative data collected from structured retrospective interviews.  The results of gaze metrics analysis indicated decreased cognitive load and increased visual processing for viewers when spoken short forms were used in the subtitles. These findings, which were also supported by the interview results, suggest a more efficient subtitle reception in the presence of spoken short forms according to the minimax principle. The findings of this study contribute significantly to both theory and practice by providing empirical evidence advocating the use of spoken short forms in Persian subtitles.