a review of a relationship: subtitles and cognitive load

This paper is aimed at reviewing the relationship between subtitle and cognitive load and the effects of different types of subtitles on vocabulary learning, comprehension, and visual attention. in this paper, a number of research articles have been reviewed in details in order to enlighten and clarify the connection between subtitle and cognitive load. some of the articles used methods such as self-report, vocabulary test, reading comprehension test, biographical questionnaire, cl questionnaire, and free call test, while some others used more direct methods such as eeg and eye tracking. the articles were successful in answering their research questions with detailed data and analysis. their results showed that at the very least, the use of subtitles does not result in cognitive overload unlike previous claims. also, viewers’ visual attention to l1 (interlingual, native-language) subtitles was more stable than to l2 (intralingual, foreign language) subtitles and was less sensitive to the increased visual competition in the bilingual condition. and finally, l2 subtitle had better results in vocabulary learning, while l1 subtitles resulted in better comprehension among participants. the review concludes with pointing out the current existing gaps and giving suggestions for further researches in order to make more reliable and more generalizable findings.