How do Eye Movements and Visual Attention in Letter-Finding Tasks Differ in Children with Different Levels of Reading Skills?

Children with different levels of reading proficiency demonstrate different information processing speed, reading accuracy and cognitive strategies. The study presents the results of analyses of eye movement features when performing letter search tasks in lexical and sub-lexical environments. The ta...

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Main Author: Ruzalina I. Shajhutdinova
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Peoples’ Friendship University of Russia (RUDN University) 2023-12-01
Series:RUDN Journal of Language Studies, Semiotics and Semantics
Subjects:
Online Access:https://journals.rudn.ru/semiotics-semantics/article/viewFile/37655/23103
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author Ruzalina I. Shajhutdinova
author_facet Ruzalina I. Shajhutdinova
author_sort Ruzalina I. Shajhutdinova
collection DOAJ
description Children with different levels of reading proficiency demonstrate different information processing speed, reading accuracy and cognitive strategies. The study presents the results of analyses of eye movement features when performing letter search tasks in lexical and sub-lexical environments. The task of searching for a particular grapheme by the respondents is approximated to real-life conditions, since in the course of language learning students regularly face the tasks of searching for certain orthograms in educational texts or self-checking tasks (i.e., errors in their own texts), which is especially important for children with dysorphographia, regulatory dysgraphia, and other learning difficulties. Forty-nine children aged 9 to 10 years participated in the study. Reading skills were assessed using the Standardized Assessment of Reading Skills (SARS). Nonverbal intelligence was assessed by using Raven’s coloured progressive matrices. Participants performed a letter search task in text and letter list, eye movements were recorded using the EyeLink 1000 Plus eye tracker. Rank correlation analyses showed that the level of reading skill development was related to the efficiency of finding specific items in a given context. In addition, the duration and number of gaze fixations on the searched units in the letter list were not always related to the number of correct answers, indicating a complex process of visual attention during the search task. In addition, it was observed that foveal vision was not always necessary for performing search tasks in children with normally developed reading skill levels. The study also investigated the concept of functional visual field and how the surroundings of the items being searched affect the attentional mechanisms involved in visual search. Overall, this study provides evidence on the relationship between reading skills, attention and visual information processing, which contributes to understanding reading strategies in children with dyslexia and creating new methods for screening children with dyslexia in the future.
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spelling doaj.art-158c5d88920b4d3dada0dfca677ab6ad2024-01-30T08:37:38ZengPeoples’ Friendship University of Russia (RUDN University)RUDN Journal of Language Studies, Semiotics and Semantics2313-22992411-12362023-12-011441107112110.22363/2313-2299-2023-14-4-1107-112121007How do Eye Movements and Visual Attention in Letter-Finding Tasks Differ in Children with Different Levels of Reading Skills?Ruzalina I. Shajhutdinova0https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1684-7188Kazan Federal UniversityChildren with different levels of reading proficiency demonstrate different information processing speed, reading accuracy and cognitive strategies. The study presents the results of analyses of eye movement features when performing letter search tasks in lexical and sub-lexical environments. The task of searching for a particular grapheme by the respondents is approximated to real-life conditions, since in the course of language learning students regularly face the tasks of searching for certain orthograms in educational texts or self-checking tasks (i.e., errors in their own texts), which is especially important for children with dysorphographia, regulatory dysgraphia, and other learning difficulties. Forty-nine children aged 9 to 10 years participated in the study. Reading skills were assessed using the Standardized Assessment of Reading Skills (SARS). Nonverbal intelligence was assessed by using Raven’s coloured progressive matrices. Participants performed a letter search task in text and letter list, eye movements were recorded using the EyeLink 1000 Plus eye tracker. Rank correlation analyses showed that the level of reading skill development was related to the efficiency of finding specific items in a given context. In addition, the duration and number of gaze fixations on the searched units in the letter list were not always related to the number of correct answers, indicating a complex process of visual attention during the search task. In addition, it was observed that foveal vision was not always necessary for performing search tasks in children with normally developed reading skill levels. The study also investigated the concept of functional visual field and how the surroundings of the items being searched affect the attentional mechanisms involved in visual search. Overall, this study provides evidence on the relationship between reading skills, attention and visual information processing, which contributes to understanding reading strategies in children with dyslexia and creating new methods for screening children with dyslexia in the future.https://journals.rudn.ru/semiotics-semantics/article/viewFile/37655/23103dyslexialetter-finding taskseye trackingvisual information processingreading skillsattentionfunctional visual field
spellingShingle Ruzalina I. Shajhutdinova
How do Eye Movements and Visual Attention in Letter-Finding Tasks Differ in Children with Different Levels of Reading Skills?
RUDN Journal of Language Studies, Semiotics and Semantics
dyslexia
letter-finding tasks
eye tracking
visual information processing
reading skills
attention
functional visual field
title How do Eye Movements and Visual Attention in Letter-Finding Tasks Differ in Children with Different Levels of Reading Skills?
title_full How do Eye Movements and Visual Attention in Letter-Finding Tasks Differ in Children with Different Levels of Reading Skills?
title_fullStr How do Eye Movements and Visual Attention in Letter-Finding Tasks Differ in Children with Different Levels of Reading Skills?
title_full_unstemmed How do Eye Movements and Visual Attention in Letter-Finding Tasks Differ in Children with Different Levels of Reading Skills?
title_short How do Eye Movements and Visual Attention in Letter-Finding Tasks Differ in Children with Different Levels of Reading Skills?
title_sort how do eye movements and visual attention in letter finding tasks differ in children with different levels of reading skills
topic dyslexia
letter-finding tasks
eye tracking
visual information processing
reading skills
attention
functional visual field
url https://journals.rudn.ru/semiotics-semantics/article/viewFile/37655/23103
work_keys_str_mv AT ruzalinaishajhutdinova howdoeyemovementsandvisualattentioninletterfindingtasksdifferinchildrenwithdifferentlevelsofreadingskills