@inproceedings{de-langis-etal-2026-tracing,
title = "Tracing How Annotators Think: Augmenting Preference Judgments with Reading Processes",
author = "de Langis, Karin Johanna Denton and
Walker, William and
Le, Khanh Chi and
Kang, Dongyeop",
editor = "Piperidis, Stelios and
Bel, N{\'u}ria and
van den Heuvel, Henk and
Ide, Nancy and
Krek, Simon and
Toral, Antonio",
booktitle = "Proceedings of the Fifteenth Language Resources and Evaluation Conference",
month = may,
year = "2026",
address = "Palma de Mallorca, Spain",
publisher = "ELRA Language Resource Association",
url = "https://aclanthology.org/2026.lrec-1.510/",
doi = "10.63317/3nrqhnhixp4j",
pages = "6428--6438",
abstract = "We propose an annotation approach that captures not only labels but also the reading process underlying annotators' decisions, e.g., what parts of the text they focus on, re-read or skim. Using this approach, we conduct a case study on the preference annotation task and create a dataset PreferRead that contains fine-grained annotator reading behaviors obtained from mouse tracking. PreferRead enables detailed analysis of how annotators navigate between a prompt and two candidate responses before selecting their preference. We find that annotators re-read a response in roughly half of all trials, most often revisiting the option they ultimately choose, and rarely revisit the prompt. Reading behaviors are also significantly related to annotation outcomes: re-reading is associated with higher inter-annotator agreement, whereas long reading paths and times are associated with lower agreement. These results demonstrate that reading processes provide a complementary cognitive dimension for understanding annotator reliability, decision-making and disagreement in complex, subjective NLP tasks."
}<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<modsCollection xmlns="http://www.loc.gov/mods/v3">
<mods ID="de-langis-etal-2026-tracing">
<titleInfo>
<title>Tracing How Annotators Think: Augmenting Preference Judgments with Reading Processes</title>
</titleInfo>
<name type="personal">
<namePart type="given">Karin</namePart>
<namePart type="given">Johanna</namePart>
<namePart type="given">Denton</namePart>
<namePart type="family">de Langis</namePart>
<role>
<roleTerm authority="marcrelator" type="text">author</roleTerm>
</role>
</name>
<name type="personal">
<namePart type="given">William</namePart>
<namePart type="family">Walker</namePart>
<role>
<roleTerm authority="marcrelator" type="text">author</roleTerm>
</role>
</name>
<name type="personal">
<namePart type="given">Khanh</namePart>
<namePart type="given">Chi</namePart>
<namePart type="family">Le</namePart>
<role>
<roleTerm authority="marcrelator" type="text">author</roleTerm>
</role>
</name>
<name type="personal">
<namePart type="given">Dongyeop</namePart>
<namePart type="family">Kang</namePart>
<role>
<roleTerm authority="marcrelator" type="text">author</roleTerm>
</role>
</name>
<originInfo>
<dateIssued>2026-05</dateIssued>
</originInfo>
<typeOfResource>text</typeOfResource>
<relatedItem type="host">
<titleInfo>
<title>Proceedings of the Fifteenth Language Resources and Evaluation Conference</title>
</titleInfo>
<name type="personal">
<namePart type="given">Stelios</namePart>
<namePart type="family">Piperidis</namePart>
<role>
<roleTerm authority="marcrelator" type="text">editor</roleTerm>
</role>
</name>
<name type="personal">
<namePart type="given">Núria</namePart>
<namePart type="family">Bel</namePart>
<role>
<roleTerm authority="marcrelator" type="text">editor</roleTerm>
</role>
</name>
<name type="personal">
<namePart type="given">Henk</namePart>
<namePart type="family">van den Heuvel</namePart>
<role>
<roleTerm authority="marcrelator" type="text">editor</roleTerm>
</role>
</name>
<name type="personal">
<namePart type="given">Nancy</namePart>
<namePart type="family">Ide</namePart>
<role>
<roleTerm authority="marcrelator" type="text">editor</roleTerm>
</role>
</name>
<name type="personal">
<namePart type="given">Simon</namePart>
<namePart type="family">Krek</namePart>
<role>
<roleTerm authority="marcrelator" type="text">editor</roleTerm>
</role>
</name>
<name type="personal">
<namePart type="given">Antonio</namePart>
<namePart type="family">Toral</namePart>
<role>
<roleTerm authority="marcrelator" type="text">editor</roleTerm>
</role>
</name>
<originInfo>
<publisher>ELRA Language Resource Association</publisher>
<place>
<placeTerm type="text">Palma de Mallorca, Spain</placeTerm>
</place>
</originInfo>
<genre authority="marcgt">conference publication</genre>
</relatedItem>
<abstract>We propose an annotation approach that captures not only labels but also the reading process underlying annotators’ decisions, e.g., what parts of the text they focus on, re-read or skim. Using this approach, we conduct a case study on the preference annotation task and create a dataset PreferRead that contains fine-grained annotator reading behaviors obtained from mouse tracking. PreferRead enables detailed analysis of how annotators navigate between a prompt and two candidate responses before selecting their preference. We find that annotators re-read a response in roughly half of all trials, most often revisiting the option they ultimately choose, and rarely revisit the prompt. Reading behaviors are also significantly related to annotation outcomes: re-reading is associated with higher inter-annotator agreement, whereas long reading paths and times are associated with lower agreement. These results demonstrate that reading processes provide a complementary cognitive dimension for understanding annotator reliability, decision-making and disagreement in complex, subjective NLP tasks.</abstract>
<identifier type="citekey">de-langis-etal-2026-tracing</identifier>
<identifier type="doi">10.63317/3nrqhnhixp4j</identifier>
<location>
<url>https://aclanthology.org/2026.lrec-1.510/</url>
</location>
<part>
<date>2026-05</date>
<extent unit="page">
<start>6428</start>
<end>6438</end>
</extent>
</part>
</mods>
</modsCollection>
%0 Conference Proceedings
%T Tracing How Annotators Think: Augmenting Preference Judgments with Reading Processes
%A de Langis, Karin Johanna Denton
%A Walker, William
%A Le, Khanh Chi
%A Kang, Dongyeop
%Y Piperidis, Stelios
%Y Bel, Núria
%Y van den Heuvel, Henk
%Y Ide, Nancy
%Y Krek, Simon
%Y Toral, Antonio
%S Proceedings of the Fifteenth Language Resources and Evaluation Conference
%D 2026
%8 May
%I ELRA Language Resource Association
%C Palma de Mallorca, Spain
%F de-langis-etal-2026-tracing
%X We propose an annotation approach that captures not only labels but also the reading process underlying annotators’ decisions, e.g., what parts of the text they focus on, re-read or skim. Using this approach, we conduct a case study on the preference annotation task and create a dataset PreferRead that contains fine-grained annotator reading behaviors obtained from mouse tracking. PreferRead enables detailed analysis of how annotators navigate between a prompt and two candidate responses before selecting their preference. We find that annotators re-read a response in roughly half of all trials, most often revisiting the option they ultimately choose, and rarely revisit the prompt. Reading behaviors are also significantly related to annotation outcomes: re-reading is associated with higher inter-annotator agreement, whereas long reading paths and times are associated with lower agreement. These results demonstrate that reading processes provide a complementary cognitive dimension for understanding annotator reliability, decision-making and disagreement in complex, subjective NLP tasks.
%R 10.63317/3nrqhnhixp4j
%U https://aclanthology.org/2026.lrec-1.510/
%U https://doi.org/10.63317/3nrqhnhixp4j
%P 6428-6438
Markdown (Informal)
[Tracing How Annotators Think: Augmenting Preference Judgments with Reading Processes](https://aclanthology.org/2026.lrec-1.510/) (de Langis et al., LREC 2026)
ACL