Accounting for visual field abnormalities when using eye-tracking to diagnose reading problems in neurological degeneration

State-of-the-art eye trackers provide valuable information for diagnosing reading problems by measuring and interpreting people’s gaze paths as they read through text. Abnormal conditions such as visual field defects, however, can seriously confound most of today’s existing methods for interpreting...

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Main Authors: Carla Daniela Guantay, Laura Mena-García, Miguel Angel Tola-Arribas, María José Garea García-Malvar, Marta Para-Prieto, María Gloria González-Fernández, Agustín Mayo-Iscar, José Carlos Pastor-Jimeno
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: MDPI AG 2024-07-01
Series:Journal of Eye Movement Research
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Online Access:https://bop.unibe.ch/JEMR/article/view/10665
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author Carla Daniela Guantay
Laura Mena-García
Miguel Angel Tola-Arribas
María José Garea García-Malvar
Marta Para-Prieto
María Gloria González-Fernández
Agustín Mayo-Iscar
José Carlos Pastor-Jimeno
author_facet Carla Daniela Guantay
Laura Mena-García
Miguel Angel Tola-Arribas
María José Garea García-Malvar
Marta Para-Prieto
María Gloria González-Fernández
Agustín Mayo-Iscar
José Carlos Pastor-Jimeno
author_sort Carla Daniela Guantay
collection DOAJ
description State-of-the-art eye trackers provide valuable information for diagnosing reading problems by measuring and interpreting people’s gaze paths as they read through text. Abnormal conditions such as visual field defects, however, can seriously confound most of today’s existing methods for interpreting reading gaze patterns. Our objective was to research how visual field defects impact reading gaze path patterns, so the effects of such neurological pathologies can be explicitly incorporated into more comprehensive reading diagnosis methodologies. A cross-sectional, non-randomized, pilot clinical study including 45 patients with various neurologic disorders and 30 normal controls was designed. Participants underwent ophthalmologic/neuropsychologic and eye-tracker examinations using two reading tests of words and numbers. The results showed that the use of the eye tracker showed that patients with brain damage and an altered visual field require more time to complete a reading-text test by fixating a greater number of times (p < 0.001); with longer fixations (p = 0.03); and a greater number of saccades in these patients (p = 0.04). Our study showed objective differences in eye movement characteristics in patients with neurological diseases and an altered visual field who complained of reading difficulties. These findings should be considered as a bias factor and deserve further investigation.
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spelling doaj-art-c50f96043fa140c6bd5d4e2ecc37eac92025-08-20T03:04:40ZengMDPI AGJournal of Eye Movement Research1995-86922024-07-0117210.16910/jemr.17.2.2Accounting for visual field abnormalities when using eye-tracking to diagnose reading problems in neurological degenerationCarla Daniela Guantay0Laura Mena-García1Miguel Angel Tola-Arribas2María José Garea García-Malvar3Marta Para-Prieto4María Gloria González-Fernández5Agustín Mayo-Iscar 6José Carlos Pastor-Jimeno7University Institute of Applied Ophthalmobiology of the University of Valladolid (IOBA)IOBA- University of Valladolid, Spain Department of Neurology, Rio Hortega University Hospital of Valladolid, Spain. Network of Biomedical Research Centres in the field of Bioengineering, Biomaterials and Nanomedicine, (CIBER-BBN), Madrid, Spain Department of Neurology, Rio Hortega University Hospital of Valladolid, SpainIOBA- University of Valladolid, SpainOphthalmology Department, Clinic University Hospital of Valladolid, SpainIOBA - University of Valladolid, SpainIOBA - University of Valladolid, Spain State-of-the-art eye trackers provide valuable information for diagnosing reading problems by measuring and interpreting people’s gaze paths as they read through text. Abnormal conditions such as visual field defects, however, can seriously confound most of today’s existing methods for interpreting reading gaze patterns. Our objective was to research how visual field defects impact reading gaze path patterns, so the effects of such neurological pathologies can be explicitly incorporated into more comprehensive reading diagnosis methodologies. A cross-sectional, non-randomized, pilot clinical study including 45 patients with various neurologic disorders and 30 normal controls was designed. Participants underwent ophthalmologic/neuropsychologic and eye-tracker examinations using two reading tests of words and numbers. The results showed that the use of the eye tracker showed that patients with brain damage and an altered visual field require more time to complete a reading-text test by fixating a greater number of times (p < 0.001); with longer fixations (p = 0.03); and a greater number of saccades in these patients (p = 0.04). Our study showed objective differences in eye movement characteristics in patients with neurological diseases and an altered visual field who complained of reading difficulties. These findings should be considered as a bias factor and deserve further investigation. https://bop.unibe.ch/JEMR/article/view/10665eye movementeye trackingsaccadesarea of interestgazereading
spellingShingle Carla Daniela Guantay
Laura Mena-García
Miguel Angel Tola-Arribas
María José Garea García-Malvar
Marta Para-Prieto
María Gloria González-Fernández
Agustín Mayo-Iscar
José Carlos Pastor-Jimeno
Accounting for visual field abnormalities when using eye-tracking to diagnose reading problems in neurological degeneration
Journal of Eye Movement Research
eye movement
eye tracking
saccades
area of interest
gaze
reading
title Accounting for visual field abnormalities when using eye-tracking to diagnose reading problems in neurological degeneration
title_full Accounting for visual field abnormalities when using eye-tracking to diagnose reading problems in neurological degeneration
title_fullStr Accounting for visual field abnormalities when using eye-tracking to diagnose reading problems in neurological degeneration
title_full_unstemmed Accounting for visual field abnormalities when using eye-tracking to diagnose reading problems in neurological degeneration
title_short Accounting for visual field abnormalities when using eye-tracking to diagnose reading problems in neurological degeneration
title_sort accounting for visual field abnormalities when using eye tracking to diagnose reading problems in neurological degeneration
topic eye movement
eye tracking
saccades
area of interest
gaze
reading
url https://bop.unibe.ch/JEMR/article/view/10665
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