Investigation of Gaze Characteristics in Reading Out by Children with Dyslexia Using Eye Movement Measurement: Towards Supporting Children with Dyslexia

Research Topic
Investigation of Gaze Characteristics in Reading Out by Children with Dyslexia Using Eye Movement Measurement: Towards Supporting Children with Dyslexia

Lead Researcher
Yuichiro Kikuno, Senior Lecturer, The University of Shimane

Host Researcher
Yoshiyuki Ueda, Senior Lecturer, Kokoro Research Center, Kyoto University

The diagnosis and support of learning disabilities may be delayed because there is no overall delay in intellectual development. Early diagnosis and support for dyslexia (difficulty in reading), which accounts for about 80% of all learning disabilities, are particularly urgent.

Recent studies using eye movement measurement devices have shown that children with dyslexia often read letters in a semantic word sequentially when reading out loud (being weak in capturing multiple letters in a whole word, then, longer gaze time per word). Thus, objective evaluation methods for dyslexia have started to be discovered (Hojo et al., 2016). On the other hand, support methods based on eye movements that are characteristic of children with dyslexia have not yet been developed.

Considering the background of the research described above, this study measures eye movements during a reading task that reduces difficulty in “sequential reading of semantic words”. We also evaluate the improvement of “sequential reading of semantic words” starting with the change of single-character gaze time, and aim at the development of a dyslexia support method.

2020/05/29