Oculomotor response to images in primary school children with mild intellectual disability

Abstract

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.

Ocular Motility Patterns in Intellectual Disability: Insights from the Developmental Eye Movement Test

“…Scheiman [ 14 ] postulated that the fewer saccades performed and the more parafoveal vision is used, the faster the reading, and the better the comprehension will be [ 15 ]. On the other hand, when analyzing a study in which different images were presented to children with mild ID and children without ID, monitored with a GP3 Gazepoint eye-tracking system (Vancouver, BC, Canada), children with mild ID performed fewer fixations than children without ID.…”

“…The opposite occurred in our study, in which subjects with ID performed a greater number of fixations than subjects without ID. The previous study [ 14 ] suggested that children with mild ID make fewer fixations because they need more time to carry them out. Furthermore, the children with mild ID ignored textual elements in mixed images, instead focusing their attention on the pictorial elements, while the children without ID fixed their gaze more on the textual elements.…”

Education of children under conditions of distance learning with cognitive development disorder: psychological and pedagogical aspects

“…Szekeres, (2014), Markovic-Jovanovic, et al (2019 confirm this as a component of the Apgar score. Nikishina, et al (2021) are convinced that distance learning materials containing both visual and textual elements are ineffective forasmuch as children with mild developmental disabilities ignore textual elements. The total duration of gaze fixation is much longer with the optimized format of training materials.…”