Dyslexics' eye fixations may accommodate to hemispheric desynchronization

M. Louise Kelly, Manon W. Jones, Scott A. McDonald, Richard C. Shillcock*

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

12 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

We argue that the vertical division of the fovea and the hemispheric division of the brain condition reading, and that hemispheric desynchronization is a proximal cause of dyslexia. We predict that dyslexics' fixation behaviour in reading accommodates to problematic hemispheric transfer/coordination, with fixations projecting more letter-information directly to the left hemisphere to facilitate processing. We analysed eye movements of 24 dyslexics and 24 normal readers. Dyslexics fixated closer to word beginning than did normal readers, projecting more of the word directly to the left hemisphere. Both groups produced comparable fixation durations at the beginning of the word; further into the word the dyslexics produced longer fixation durations. The results support a model of dyslexia based on hemispheric desynchronization.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)2629-2632
Number of pages4
JournalNeuroReport
Volume15
Issue number17
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 3 Dec 2004
Externally publishedYes

Keywords

  • Dyslexia
  • Eye fixations
  • Hemispheric transfer
  • Reading
  • Split fovea

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • General Neuroscience

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