Reading Development During Elementary School Years. Evidence from Eye Movements

The present dissertation examined reading development during elementary school years by means of eye movement tracking. Three different but related issues in this field were assessed. First of all, the development of parafoveal processing skills in reading was investigated. Second, it was assessed whether and to what extent sublexical units such as syllables and morphemes are used in processing Finnish words and whether the use of these sublexical units changes as a function of reading proficiency. Finally, the developmental trend in the speed of visual information extraction during reading was examined. With regard to parafoveal processing skills, it was shown that 2nd graders extract letter identity information approx. 5 characters to the right of fixation, 4th graders approx. 7 characters to the right of fixation, and 6th graders and adults approx. 9 characters to the right of fixation. Furthermore, it was shown that all age groups extract more parafoveal information within compound words than across adjectivenoun pairs of similar length. In compounds, parafoveal word information can be extracted in parallel with foveal word information, if the compound in question is of high frequency. With regard to the use of sublexical units in Finnish word processing, it was shown that less proficient 2nd graders use both syllables and morphemes in the course of lexical access. More proficient 2nd graders as well as older readers seem to process words more holistically. Finally, it was shown that 60 ms is enough for 4th graders and adults to extract visual information from both 4-letter and 8-letter words, whereas 2nd graders clearly needed more than 60 ms to extract all information from 8- letter words for processing to proceed smoothly. The present dissertation demonstrates that Finnish 2nd graders develop their reading skills rapidly and are already at an adult level in some aspects of reading. This is not to say that there are no differences between less proficient (e.g., 2nd graders) and more proficient readers (e.g., adults) but in some respects it seems that the visual system used in extracting information from the text is matured by the 2nd grade. Furthermore, the present dissertation demonstrates that the allocation of attention in reading depends much on textual properties such as word frequency and whether words are spatially unified (as in compounds) or not. This flexibility of the attentional system naturally needs to be captured in word processing models. Finally, individual differences within age groups are quite substantial but it seems that by the end of the 2nd grade practically all Finnish children have reached a reasonable level of reading proficiency.Siirretty Doriast

The Effect of Syllable-level Hyphenation on Novel Word Reading in Early Finnish Readers: Evidence from Eye Movements

In early Finnish reading instruction, hyphens are used to denote syllable boundaries. However, this practice slows down reading already during the 1st grade. It has been hypothesized that hyphenation forces readers to rely more on phonology than orthography. Since hyphenation highlights the phonology of the word, it may facilitate reading during the very first encounters of the word. To assess whether this is the case, Finnish 1st and 2nd graders read stories about fictional animals while their eye movements were registered. Each story included four occurrences of a novel target (pseudo)word, hyphenated at the syllable level in half of the stories. Target words were read faster with repeated exposure but there were no effects regarding grade or hyphenation. The use of hyphenation does not give rise to enhanced processing of phonology in novel words and is likely to hinder the processes connected to the use of orthography

Eye Movements during dynamic scene viewing are affected by visual attention skills and events of the scene: Evidence from first-person shooter gameplay videos

The role of individual differences during dynamic scene viewing was explored. Participants (N=38) watched a gameplay video of a first-person shooter (FPS) videogame while their eye movements were recorded. In addition, the participants’ skills in three visual attention tasks (attentional blink, visual search, and multiple object tracking) were assessed.  The results showed that individual differences in visual attention tasks were associated with eye movement patterns observed during viewing of the gameplay video. The differences were noted in four eye movement measures: number of fixations, fixation durations, saccade amplitudes and fixation distances from the center of the screen. The individual differences showed during specific events of the video as well as during the video as a whole. The results highlight that an unedited, fast-paced and cluttered dynamic scene can bring about individual differences in dynamic scene viewing

Potilassanaston hallinta terveydenhuoltoalalla - Maahanmuuttajataustaisten lääkärien ja asioimistulkkiopiskelijoiden sananmerkityksen tarkkuus

Artikkelissa tarkastellaan aikuisten maahanmuuttajien sanastonhallintaa erityisalan kielitaidon näkökulmasta. Tutkimus koskee terveydenhuollon alaa ja potilashoidossa tarvittavan sanaston hallintaa. Tutkimuksen koehenkilöinä ovat maahanmuuttaja-taustaiset lääkärit (N = 81) ja asioimistulkit (N = 43), joilla molemmilla on tavoitteena pystyä työskentelemään potilashoidon tilanteissa ja hallita niissä käytettävää sanastoa.Tutkimusta varten koottiin potilashoidon tilanteissa käytettävää sanastoa ja laadittiin sanojen välisten suhteiden tuntemusta mittaava testi, joka noudattaa sana-assosiaatiotestin muotoa (Word Associate Format). Verrokkiryhmänä ovat suomenkieliset syntyperäiset aikuiset (N = 36), joiden vastauksiin maahanmuuttaja-taustaisten koehenkilöiden vastauksia verrattiin. Testisuoritukset analysoitiin tilastollisesti R-tilasto-ohjelmalla käyttäen yleistettyä lineaarista sekamallia. Mallissa tarkasteltiin ammattiryhmien eroja suhteessa sanojen frekvensseihin.Tulokset osoittavat, että testi erottelee selvästi syntyperäiset suomenkieliset koe-henkilöt maahanmuuttajataustaisista koehenkilöistä, joiden tulokset jäävät noin 30 % heikommiksi. Lisäksi testituloksista ilmenee, että maahanmuuttajataustaiset asioimis-tulkit tuntevat potilassanastoa laajemmin ja tarkemmin kuin maahanmuuttajalääkärit. Asioimistulkeilla myös sanan frekvenssi vaikuttaa selvemmin: mitä frekventimpi sana, sitä paremmin asioimistulkit ovat sen osanneet.Maahanmuuttajalääkäreillä frekvenssin vaikutusta ei havaittu selvästi, mikä saattaa johtua siitä, että testin matala-frekvenssiset sanat kuuluvat lääkärin ammatillisen sanaston ytimeen. Tämä tarkoittaa sitä, että maahanmuuttajalääkärit hallitsevat verrattain pienen määrän sairaus- ja -anatomia-aiheisia sanoja, kun taas asioimistulkit hallitsevat laajemmin myös yleisempää ja merkitykseltään abstraktimpaa potilaskontekstissa käytettävää sanastoa.Erot ammattiryhmien välillä selittyvät Suomessa asumisen kestolla, mutta työelämän tavoitteiden kannalta maahanmuuttajalääkärien heikompaa sanastonhallintaa voidaan pitää ongelmallisena.</div

Eye Movements during dynamic scene viewing are affected by visual attention skills and events of the scene: Evidence from first-person shooter gameplay videos

The role of individual differences during dynamic scene viewing was explored. Participants (N=38) watched a gameplay video of a first-person shooter (FPS) videogame while their eye movements were recorded. In addition, the participants’ skills in three visual attention tasks (attentional blink, visual search, and multiple object tracking) were assessed.  The results showed that individual differences in visual attention tasks were associated with eye movement patterns observed during viewing of the gameplay video. The differences were noted in four eye movement measures: number of fixations, fixation durations, saccade amplitudes and fixation distances from the center of the screen. The individual differences showed during specific events of the video as well as during the video as a whole. The results highlight that an unedited, fast-paced and cluttered dynamic scene can bring about individual differences in dynamic scene viewing.</p

Eye Movements of Children and Adults Reading in Three Different Orthographies

In this study, we investigated developmental aspects of eye movements during reading of three languages (English, German and Finnish) that vary widely in their orthographic complexity and predictability . Grapheme-phoneme correspondence rules are rather complex in English and German but relatively simple in Finnish. Despite their differences in complexity, the rules in German and Finnish are highly predictable, whereas English has many exceptions. Comparing eye movement development in these three languages, thus, allows us to investigate whether orthographic complexity and predictability have separate effects on eye movement development. Three groups of children, matched on years of reading instruction, along with a group of proficient adult readers in each language were tested. All participants read stimulus materials that were carefully translated and back-translated across all three languages. The length and frequency of 48 target words were manipulated experimentally within the stimulus set. For children, word length effects were stronger in Finnish and German than in English. In addition, in English effects of word frequency were weaker and only present for short words . Generally, English children showed a qualitatively different reading pattern, while German and Finnish children’s reading behavior was rather similar. These results indicate that the predictability of an orthographic system is more important than its complexity for children’s reading development . Adults’ reading behavior, in contrast, was remarkably similar across languages. Our results, thus, demonstrate that eye movements are sensitive to language-specific features in children’s reading, but become more homogenous as reading skill matures

Individual differences in pupil dilation to others’ emotional and neutral eyes with varying pupil sizes

Sensitivity to others’ emotional signals is an important factor for social interaction. While many studies of emotional reactivity focus on facial emotional expressions, signals such as pupil dilation which can indicate arousal, may also affect observers. For example, observers’ pupils dilate when viewing someone with dilated pupils, so-called pupillary contagion. Yet it is unclear how pupil size and emotional expression interact as signals. Further, examining individual differences in emotional reactivity to others can shed light on its mechanisms and potential outcomes. In the current study, adults’ (N = 453) pupil size was assessed while they viewed images of the eye region of individuals varying in emotional expression (neutral, happy, sad, fearful, angry) and pupil size (large, medium, small). Participants showed pupillary contagion regardless of the emotional expression. Individual differences in demographics (gender, age, socioeconomic status) and psychosocial factors (anxiety, depression, sleep problems) were also examined, yet the only factor related to pupillary contagion was socioeconomic status, with higher socioeconomic status predicting less pupillary contagion for emotionally-neutral stimuli. The results suggest that while pupillary contagion is a robust phenomenon, it can vary meaningfully across individuals.publishedVersionPeer reviewe

Behavioral regulatory problems are associated with a lower attentional bias to fearful faces during infancy

To investigate the role of early regulatory problems (RP), such as problems in feeding, sleeping, and calming down during later development, the association between parent‐reported RP at 3 months (no‐RP, n = 110; RP, n = 66) and attention to emotional faces at 8 months was studied. Eight‐month‐old infants had a strong tendency to look at faces and to specifically fearful faces, and the individual variance in this tendency was assessed with eye tracking using a face‐distractor paradigm. The early RPs were related to a lower attention bias to fearful faces compared to happy and neutral faces after controlling for temperamental negative affectivity. This suggests that early RPs are related to the processing of emotional information later during infancy.</p

Individual differences in pupil dilation to others' emotional and neutral eyes with varying pupil sizes

Sensitivity to others' emotional signals is an important factor for social interaction. While many studies of emotional reactivity focus on facial emotional expressions, signals such as pupil dilation which can indicate arousal, may also affect observers. For example, observers' pupils dilate when viewing someone with dilated pupils, so-called pupillary contagion. Yet it is unclear how pupil size and emotional expression interact as signals. Further, examining individual differences in emotional reactivity to others can shed light on its mechanisms and potential outcomes. In the current study, adults' (N = 453) pupil size was assessed while they viewed images of the eye region of individuals varying in emotional expression (neutral, happy, sad, fearful, angry) and pupil size (large, medium, small). Participants showed pupillary contagion regardless of the emotional expression. Individual differences in demographics (gender, age, socioeconomic status) and psychosocial factors (anxiety, depression, sleep problems) were also examined, yet the only factor related to pupillary contagion was socioeconomic status, with higher socioeconomic status predicting less pupillary contagion for emotionally-neutral stimuli. The results suggest that while pupillary contagion is a robust phenomenon, it can vary meaningfully across individuals

Maternal Pre- and Postnatal Anxiety Symptoms and Infant Attention Disengagement from Emotional Faces

Background: Biases in socio-emotional attention may be early markers of risk for self-regulation difficulties and mental illness. We examined the associations between maternal pre- and postnatal anxiety symptoms and infant attention patterns to faces, with particular focus on attentional biases to threat, across male and female infants. Methods: A general population, Caucasian sample of eight-month old infants (N=362) were tested using eyetracking and an attention disengagement (overlap) paradigm, with happy, fearful, neutral, and phase-scrambled faces and distractors. Maternal self-reported anxiety symptoms were assessed with the Symptom Checklist-90/ anxiety subscale at five time points between gestational week 14 and 6 months postpartum. Results: Probability of disengagement was lowest for fearful faces in the whole sample. Maternal pre- but not postnatal anxiety symptoms associated with higher threat bias in infants, and the relation between maternal anxiety symptoms in early pregnancy and higher threat bias in infants remained significant after controlling for maternal postnatal symptoms. Maternal postnatal anxiety symptoms, in turn, associated with higher overall probability of disengagement from faces to distractors, but the effects varied by child sex. Limitations: The small number of mothers suffering from very severe symptoms. No control for the comorbidity of depressive symptoms. Conclusions: Maternal prenatal anxiety symptoms associate with infant's heightened attention bias for threat. Maternal postnatal anxiety symptoms, in turn, associate with infant's overall disengagement probability differently for boys and girls. Boys may show enhanced vigilance for distractors, except when viewing fearful faces, and girls enhanced vigilance for all socio-emotional stimuli. Long-term implications of these findings remain to be explored.</p