In The Mind’s Eye: Studying the Gaze Events of Dyslexic

Adults

Molly NiemczykRockdale Magnet School

2013-2014

INTRODUCTION

• Dyslexia: impaired ability to understand written language (Soukhanov, 1999)• Common characteristics: difficulty manipulating sounds, difficulty spelling,

erratic speech (National institute of, 2011)• Looking for dyslexia: ability to read, write, spell, or do math, memory,

sequencing skills, hand/eye coordination, school records, family disorders• Primary dyslexia: does not change with age; caused by malfunction in left side

of brainCommon Tests used to Diagnose Dyslexia⁻ TVPS-3: black-and-white perceptual tasks in progressing order, multiple-choice⁻ DST: reading programs, words decoded using phonic patterns, story passages;

useful with previously known reading disability⁻ CASL: 15 stand-alone multiple choice tests for ages 3 to 21⁻ DESD: sight-word recognition (Martin, N.)

• Traditional dyslexia tests can be dull, time-consuming; a dyslexia test using video (television) would be more enjoyable, low-cost, accurate

• Objective: to see if there is a significant difference in dyslexic and nondyslexic eye movement

HYPOTHESES

• Research hypothesis: If both dyslexics and those without dyslexia watch the same video, dyslexics will display different eye movements than those without dyslexia.

• Null hypothesis: If both dyslexics and those without dyslexia watch the same video, dyslexics will not display different eye movements than those without dyslexia.

Definitions⁻ Gaze Event- Every time the eyes fixate on a point for any

amount of time⁻ Primary dyslexia- Not contagious or developed after birth,

passed down genetically, people diagnosed young

BACKGROUND INFORMATION

• Less gray matter (processes information) in left parietotemporal area of brain (controls sensory perceptions, spoken and written language) than nondyslexics (Booth & Burman, 2001)

• Less white matter (associated with reading skills) in same area (Deutsch, et. al, 2005)

• Different erratic eye movement following light sources (Pavlidis, 1981).

• Difference when reading (De luca, et. al, 2002) • ADHD, FASD, Parkinson’s Disease: involve “ocular control

and attention dysfunctions” (Janice, 2012), diagnosed tracking eyes.

• Autism: affects eye movement (Jones & Klin, 2013), diagnosed tracking eyes

PROCEDURES

Materials:• Nikon Coolpix S5200• Gateway Laptop• T120• Tobii Studio• Windows Movie MakerProcedures:• Film ten 30-second videos of moving objects• Randomly cut to clip snippets, producing sixty 5-second

snippets (Tseng, Cameron, Pari, Reynolds, Munoz & Itti, 2012)• Reassemble to create 5-minute black and white video• 10 dyslexic adults, 10 nondyslexic adults watch video for 5

minutes while eye movements are recorded and examined by T120 (Janice, 2012)

EXPERIMENTAL DESIGN DIAGRAM

The Effect of Dyslexia on Eye MovementIf both dyslexics and those without dyslexia watch the same visual media, dyslexics will show different eye movements than those without dyslexia.

Dependent Variable (DV): Eye movementConstants: Video

Independent Variable (IV): Whether or not the patient has dyslexia

Levels of the IV: Without Dyslexia (control)

With Dyslexia

Trials: 10 (4 men, 6 women) 10 (2 men, 8 women)

DATA ANALYSIS

• Tested variation among the two groups using ANOVA Test• Test showed research was significant

• F=52976.1; df=1; p>.05

Gaze plots showing averaged fixation points of eyes of each participant. Color represents each person, circles represent fixation points, a circle’s size represents duration of that fixation- (bigger circle means longer focus)

No Dyslexia Dyslexia

No Dyslexia gaze plot overlapping Dyslexia gaze plot

Heat maps showing averaged focus of eyes of each participant. Red means area was focused on most; green means area was focused on less.

No Dyslexia Dyslexia

No Dyslexia heat map overlapping Dyslexia heat map

Histogram showing gaze event duration (ms) of dyslexics and nondyslexics. Lines closer to y-axis indicate shorter gaze event durations (how long person focused on one area). Lines further away from y-axis indicate longer gaze event durations.

CONCLUSION

• Research hypothesis was supported: dyslexia had significant impact on eye movements of participants when watching video

• Gaze durations of dyslexics are significantly longer than nondyslexics when reading (MacKeben et al., 2013)

• Results show dyslexics’ gaze durations were shorter more often than nondyslexics’; nondyslexics had longest gaze durations of the two groups

FUTURE RESEARCH

• Continue looking into using video as a diagnostic toolPreliminary Bell Curve• 95% with dyslexia at 53,292 ms

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

Thank you to…• Mr. John Hendrix and Mr. Scott Bolen of The Rockdale

Magnet School for Science and Technology for providing the guidance to make this project possible

• The Tobii Company for providing the T120 and software• Ms. Michelle Faraj and Mr. Vijar Patel of Tobii Company for

helping to provide the T120 and technical support • Ms. Ann Marie Lewis of the International Dyslexia

Association for finding an Adult Dyslexia Program for this project

• Ms. Foster Soules of The Schenck School and Mr. Sherman Johnson for finding willing volunteers

STUDENT ACCOMPLISHEMENTS/

ACTIVITIES

• 1st Place Regional Science Fair• Grand Champion• American Psychological Association Award• Air Force Award• Invited to the National Consortium for Specialized Secondary

Schools of Mathematics, Science, and Technology (NCSSSMST) Convention in Louisville, Kentucky

• Selected to participate in the Georgia Junior Science & Humanities Symposium (GJSHS)

STUDENT ACCOMPLISHEMENTS/

ACTIVITIES

• Cast in “Shrek the Musical” as Teen Fiona.• Currently a Peer Mentor chairman (9th-10th) on the Encourage

the Heart Committee.• MASA representative for the Debate Team• Part of the 2013-2014 Yearbook staff, Tempus Fugit.• Participate on the Math Team and Debate Team.

STUDENT ACCOMPLISHEMENTS/

ACTIVITIES

• State nominee for the Governor's Honor’s Program (GHP) in the Music-Voice category

• Have participated in (or will participate in) the All State Chorus as a 1st Soprano during my 8th, 9th, and 10th grade years.

• Participate in RCHS’s Chorus program, as well as the choir at my church.

There I am!

STUDENT ACCOMPLISHEMENTS/

ACTIVITIES

• Besides school activities, I also spend a lot of time at my church with the kids. I watch them during some of the services, and work with them during Vacation Bible School in the summer.

QUESTIONS?

Molly NiemczykRockdale Magnet School

2013-2014