Department of Psychology, University of Houston, Houston, TX 77204, USA.
Department of Special Education, Peabody College, Vanderbilt University, Nashville, TN 37235, USA.
J Exp Child Psychol. 2022 Feb;214:105289. doi: 10.1016/j.jecp.2021.105289. Epub 2021 Oct 12.
Relations of visual attention to reading have long been hypothesized; however, findings in this literature are quite mixed. These relations have been investigated using several different visual attention paradigms and with variable controls for other competing reading-related processes. We extended current knowledge by evaluating four of the key visual attention paradigms used in this research-visual attention span, attention blink, visual search, and visuospatial attention-in a single study. We tested the relations of these to reading in 90 middle schoolers at high risk for reading difficulties while considering their effect in the context of known language predictors. Performance on visual-spatial, visual search, and attentional blink paradigms showed weak nonsignificant relations to reading. Visual attention span tasks showed robust relations to reading even when controlling for language, but only when stimuli were alphanumeric. Although further exploration of visual attention in relation to reading may be warranted, the robustness of this relationship appears to be questionable, particularly beyond methodological factors associated with the measurement of visual attention. Findings extend and refine our understanding of the contribution of attention to reading skill and raise questions about the mechanism by which visual attention is purported to affect reading.
视觉注意力与阅读之间的关系一直是人们假设的对象；然而，这一文献中的发现却相当混杂。这些关系已经通过几种不同的视觉注意力范式进行了研究，并对其他竞争的阅读相关过程进行了不同的控制。我们通过在一项研究中评估四种用于该研究的关键视觉注意力范式——视觉注意力广度、注意力眨眼、视觉搜索和视空间注意力，扩展了当前的知识。我们在考虑已知语言预测因素的情况下，在 90 名有阅读困难高风险的中学生中测试了这些与阅读的关系。视觉空间、视觉搜索和注意眨眼范式的表现与阅读的关系微弱且不显著。即使在控制语言的情况下，对字母数字刺激进行的视觉注意力广度任务也与阅读有很强的关系。尽管进一步探索视觉注意力与阅读之间的关系可能是合理的，但这种关系的稳健性似乎值得怀疑，尤其是在与视觉注意力测量相关的方法因素之外。这些发现扩展和完善了我们对注意力对阅读技能贡献的理解，并对据称视觉注意力影响阅读的机制提出了质疑。
