Oculomotor activity (eye movements) is an essential component of visual data acquisition, analysis and use. The aim of this study was to determine the characteristics of oculomotor response to static images in primary school children with mild intellectual disability (ID). Our sample included a total of 49 schoolers (23 children with mild ID and 26 typically developing children). Oculomotor activity was evaluated using a GP3 Gazepoint eye tracker. The participants were presented with 15 visual stimuli: 10 pictorial and 5 mixed (pictures + text) static color images. Children with mild ID generated significantly fewer fixations (р = 0.038) than typically developing children. So, learning materials containing both pictorial and textual images are ineffective because textual elements are completely ignored by children with mild ID. The total duration of gaze fixations was significantly longer (р = 0.029) in typically developing children than in children with mild ID. However, the average duration of a single gaze fixation was longer in children with mild ID. The identified features of oculomotor response can help to optimize the format of instructional materials for primary school children with mild ID.
Optimization of the educational process, including distance learning, requires orderly arrangement of the information presented, which translates into the need to factor in oculomotor reactions accompanying the search for solutions to simple cognitive tasks. This need supports the relevance of the present study, which aimed to investigate the age-dependent parameters of the oculomotor reactions occurring in solving a simple cognitive task. The sample included 97 persons, 47 males and 50 females, ages 21 to 36. For the purpose of rating the oculomotor reactions, the sample was divided into age groups: 21–26 years (n = 34); 27–32 years (n = 29); 33–36 years (n = 34). The methodology that governed the rating procedures was developed by the authors of the study and relied on the Tobii EyeX eye tracking hardware and software solution (GazeControl software). The study revealed a significant correlation between orientation of the image (presentation angle) and distribution of the visual fixations: regardless of the image presentation angle and its properties (schematic monochrome or full color image), the fixations tend to fall predominantly into the top and left parts of the image (the first quadrant). Other findings include a) a significant dependence of the capability to solve simple cognitive tasks and recognize the contents of the image on the spatial orientation of the presented stimuli, and b) the number of errors made in image contents recognition increasing with age, this dependence being significant and observed for both the schematic monochrome image (p1 = 0.014; p2 = 0.016; p3 = 0.014) and the full-color image (p1 = 0.015; p2 = 0.015; p3 = 0.017). The researchers have also identified the significant angles of rotation of the presented face images that stably caused recognition errors.
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