Individuals with dyslexia use a different visual sampling strategy to read text

Franzen, L., Stark, Z. and Johnson, A. P. (2021) Individuals with dyslexia use a different visual sampling strategy to read text. Scientific Reports, 11, 6449. (doi: 10.1038/s41598-021-84945-9) (PMID:33742007) (PMCID:PMC7979812)

Abstract

Individuals with dyslexia present with reading-related deficits including inaccurate and/or less fluent word recognition and poor decoding abilities. Slow reading speed and worse text comprehension can occur as secondary consequences of these deficits. Reports of visual symptoms such as atypical eye movements during reading gave rise to a search for these deficits’ underlying mechanisms. This study sought to replicate established behavioral deficits in reading and cognitive processing speed while investigating their underlying mechanisms in more detail by developing a comprehensive profile of eye movements specific to reading in adult dyslexia. Using a validated standardized reading assessment, our findings confirm a reading speed deficit among adults with dyslexia. We observed different eye movements in readers with dyslexia across numerous eye movement metrics including the duration of a stop (i.e., fixation), the length of jumps (i.e., saccades), and the number of times a reader’s eyes expressed a jump atypical for reading. We conclude that individuals with dyslexia visually sample written information in a laborious and more effortful manner that is fundamentally different from those without dyslexia. Our findings suggest a mix of aberrant cognitive linguistic and oculomotor processes being present in adults with dyslexia.

• Item Type: Articles
• Additional Information: This work was supported by a Concordia University Seed fund and a Concordia University Horizon Postdoctoral Fellowship awarded to L.F.
• Status: Published
• Refereed: Yes
• Glasgow Author(s) Enlighten ID: Franzen, Mr Leon

Creator Roles

Franzen, L.: Conceptualization, Data curation, Formal analysis, Funding acquisition, Investigation, Methodology, Project administration, Resources, Software, Validation, Visualization, Writing – original draft, Writing – review and editing

• Authors: Franzen, L., Stark, Z., and Johnson, A. P.
• College/School: College of Medical Veterinary and Life Sciences > School of Psychology & Neuroscience
• Journal Name: Scientific Reports
• Publisher: Nature Research
• ISSN: 2045-2322
• ISSN (Online): 2045-2322
• Copyright Holders: Copyright © 2021 The Authors
• First Published: First published in Scientific Reports 11: 6449
• Publisher Policy: Reproduced under a Creative Commons License

Related URLs

• Research Data