The eye movements of dyslexic children during reading and visual search: Impact of the visual attention span

• Published in: Vision research (Oxford) Vol. 47; no. 19; pp. 2521 - 2530
• Main Authors: Prado, Chloé, Dubois, Matthieu, Valdois, Sylviane
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Oxford Elsevier Ltd 01-09-2007; Elsevier Science
• Subjects: Attention; Biological and medical sciences; Child; Children; Disorders of higher nervous function. Focal brain diseases. Central vestibular syndrome and deafness. Brain stem syndromes; Dyslexia; Dyslexia - physiopathology; Dyslexia - psychology; Eye and associated structures. Visual pathways and centers. Vision; Eye Movement Measurements; Eye movements; Female; Fundamental and applied biological sciences. Psychology; Humans; Male; Medical sciences; Nervous system (semeiology, syndromes); Neurology; Neuropsychological Tests; Photic Stimulation - methods; Psychomotor Performance; Reading; Saccades; Text reading; Vertebrates: nervous system and sense organs; Visual attention span; Visual attention span; Dyslexia; Children; Eye movements; Text reading; Human; Reading disorder; Memory; Text; Memory span; Eye movement; Language disorder; Communication disorder; Reading; Visual search; Vision; Perception; Visual attention; Child
• ISSN: 0042-6989; 1878-5646
• DOI: 10.1016/j.visres.2007.06.001

The eye movements of 14 French dyslexic children having a VA span reduction and 14 normal readers were compared in two tasks of visual search and text reading. The dyslexic participants made a higher number of rightward fixations in reading only. They simultaneously processed the same low number of letters in both tasks whereas normal readers processed far more letters in reading. Importantly, the children’s VA span abilities related to the number of letters simultaneously processed in reading. The atypical eye movements of some dyslexic readers in reading thus appear to reflect difficulties to increase their VA span according to the task request.