From a microscopic to a macroscopic representation of the reading process in dyslexia

MARCOS M. MEO; FRANCISCO R. IACONIS; JESSICA A. DEL PUNTA; GUSTAVO GASANEO

Buenos Aires

Congreso; XXXVII Congreso anual de la Sociedad Argentina de Neurociencias; 2022

Studies show that around 10% of the children population suffers disorders related to reading abilities. Dyslexia, a disorder mainly characterized by a difficulty in reading decoding, is one of the most studied. Eye-tracking technologies allow non-invasive recording of eye movements providing fundamental information about the reading process. Detailed knowledge of the eye movements of children with dyslexia during reading can help improve early diagnosis and suggest efficient clinical treatment. We propose as a first step a “microscopic” model, based on the continuous-time random walk, to describe the eye movements dynamics of dyslexic readers. With this model, a quantitative description of this group is performed. Based on the information provided by the model, it is possible to identify “macroscopic” features such as reading speed and memory, through Hurst exponent, both characterizing the reading process. Additionally, the variability on the jump lengths can be characterized through the statistical complexity and Jensen-Shannon entropy.