Aphasia is an acquired neurogenic language disorder that negatively impacts functional reading ability. How people with aphasia (PWA) process multi-sentence written text is largely unknown. The purpose of this study was to perform in-depth examination of eye fixation behaviors via eye tracking technology when PWA and neurotypical adults (NA) read multi-sentence passages.
The research questions of focus in the current study included the following:
What eye fixation patterns occurring while reading textual passages characterize and distinguish the case PWA participants from one another and from the conglomerate NA?
How do average fixation, initial gaze, and total summed durations occurring on passage words differ among case participants and in comparison to the conglomerate NA?
The current study used eye-tracking technology to observe the eye-fixation patterns of 5 PWA and 9 NA. All PWA exhibited higher average fixation durations, average initial gaze durations, and average total summed durations when compared to the conglomerate NA. Increased fixation times and regressive patterns suggest challenges in word decoding, linking word graphical representations to lexical-semantic knowledge, and constructing meaning from textual content. Information gathered from this study provides a preliminary understanding of PWA reading deficits and probable areas of breakdown; however, more research is needed on the underlying nature of these deficits.
Author(s): Lillian Balderston, Speech Pathology & Audiology Major
Elise Bossenbroek, Speech Pathology & Audiology Major
Advisor(s): Kelly Knollman-Porter, Speech-Language Pathology and Audiology
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