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Feasibility of Eye Movement Recordings with the SMI Tracking Bar in 10- to 11-Year-Old Children Performing a Reading
Jason Wertli1, Andreas Schötzau1, S Trauzettel-Klosinski2
1University Eye Hospital, University of Basel, Basel, Switzerland.
Insights
This study found that recording eye movements in 10- and 11-year-old children is feasible using the SMI RED eye tracker. Younger children showed more saccades and fixations per word, indicating potential reading difficulties.
Area of Science:
- Ophthalmology
- Developmental Psychology
- Educational Neuroscience
Background:
- Reading eye movements can indicate visual impairments like amblyopia and dyslexia.
- Normative data for children's reading eye movements is scarce.
- This study explores the feasibility of using the SMI RED eye tracker for this demographic.
Purpose of the Study:
- To assess the feasibility of using the SMI RED eye tracker to record eye movements in 10- and 11-year-old children during reading.
- To establish preliminary normative data for eye movement parameters in this age group.
Main Methods:
- Thirty-three normally sighted 10- and 11-year-old children participated.
- Ophthalmologic screening (visual acuity, Lang test, cover test) was performed.
- Eye movements were recorded using the SMI RED eye tracker while children read German texts from the International Reading Speed Test (IReST).
Main Results:
- Feasible recording in most children; glasses interfered with pupil tracking in some.
- Ten-year-olds exhibited more saccades (1.41/word) and fixations (1.63/word) per word than 11-year-olds (1.10/word and 1.32/word, respectively).
- Ten-year-olds took longer to read (88.8s vs 84.4s) and made more reading errors (4.47 vs 2.28).
Conclusions:
- Recording eye movements in 10- to 11-year-olds is feasible, though challenging with glasses.
- Age-related differences in reading eye movement parameters were observed.
- This data can aid in identifying reading difficulties and monitoring treatment effectiveness.
Introduction:
Eye movements during reading can be impaired in amblyopia, developmental dyslexia, reduced visual acuity, or visual field defects. To detect pathology, normative values are important for comparison. In healthy children, there is sparse data on eye movements during reading. Therefore, the aim of this study was to, in a first step, explore the feasibility of applying the SMI RED eye tracker bar to record eye movements in 10- and 11-year-old children while reading a text.
Materials And Methods:
Thirty-three (19 aged 10 years, 14 aged 11 years) normally sighted children attending a primary school in Switzerland participated in our study. Visual acuity, the Lang test, and the cover test were performed as a screening for ophthalmologic pathology that might influence the results. Eye movements were recorded with the SMI RED eye tracker bar while the child read aloud two texts from the International Reading Speed Test (IReST), presented on a laptop. Both texts were in German with an equal level of difficulty and were presented in a randomized order. Reading speed (words/minute), number of saccades, number of fixations, and reading errors (mistakes in the reading) were evaluated.
Results:
Screening did not reveal pathology other than refractive errors and children had full corrected visual acuity. Eye movements could be obtained in all but six children where the reflection of the glasses worn prevented a good pupil recording with the tracker. Younger children performed more saccades per word with a mean of 1.41 (SD 0.39) at 10 years of age versus 1.10 (SD 0.21) at 11 years of age. The number of fixations per word was also higher in younger children (mean: 1.63 [SD 0.37]) than in 11-year-old children (mean: 1.32 [SD 0.33]). Ten-year-old children seem to analyze a text in smaller units than 11-year-olds. Thus, 10-year-old children took more time to complete the reading task than the 11-year-olds (mean: 88.8 s [SD 24.1] versus 84.4 s [SD 15.1]). In addition, 10-year-old children made more reading errors compared to 11-year-olds (mean: 4.47 [SD 2.95] versus 2.28 [SD 1.72]).
Conclusion:
It is feasible to record eye movements in children aged 10 - 11, albeit this is more difficult when glasses are worn. As parameters change with age, further data is needed for a representative evaluation regarding eye movements during reading in children of different age groups. The information gained may offer help in recognizing reading difficulties and monitoring of treatment effects.
