Several articles appeared last week about a study suggesting that e-readers are better for people with dyslexia than paper-printed texts. Actually, this study was just the latest research publication by Matthew Schneps, Director of the Laboratory for Visual Learning at the Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory, and a team of researchers studying the mechanics of reading. The word “e-reader” in the title of the latest publication grabbed the attention of the mass media, but e-readers really just happen to be one of several tools these researchers and others have used to discover some interesting things about the way people read. For some people with dyslexia, using an e-reader to shorten line lengths has proven to improve the way they read.
- E-readers prove easy on the eye for some dyslexics (Ars Technica/Julia Carroll) “Reading involves a series of short eye ‘jumps’ or saccades, followed by a brief period of stillness while the brain processes the letters in front of the eyes. The ‘visual span’ is the number of letters that can be processed during the period of stillness, before moving one’s eyes again. Problems in the text, such as typos or unknown words, prompt an almost immediate response, with eyes tracking backwards and forwards to check the surrounding context to help resolve the issue.”
- Shorter lines facilitate reading in those who struggle (PLOS ONE/Matthew H. Schneps, Jenny M. Thomson, Gerhard Sonnert, Marc Pomplun, Chen Chen, and Amanda Heffner-Wong) “Given that readers often regress to correct for lapses in understanding, and thus clarify meaning, we would expect comprehension to suffer if a text manipulation caused regression rates to drop. The fact that this does not occur further suggests that shortened linewidths act to limit confusion at the sight of the fixated word. Based on the forgoing, we suggest that a possible explanation, consistent with the observations in this study, is that short lines act to improve comprehension at the fixation site by reducing the likelihood that a previously fixated word can be found immediately adjacent to the fixation site.”
- E-readers benefit some dyslexics (Medical News Today/Marie Ellis) “They note that many cases of dyslexia involve an element known as a visual attention deficit, which is an inability to concentrate on specific letters or words within lines of text. Another feature of dyslexia is visual crowding, which is the inability to recognize letters when they are scattered within the word. By reading short lines on an e-reader, the researchers say dyslexics are able to resolve the issues by ‘reducing visual distractions within the text.’”
- E-readers are more effective than paper for some with dyslexia (PLOS ONE/Matthew H. Schneps, Jenny M. Thomson, Chen Chen, Gerhard Sonnert, and Marc Pomplun) “Prior eye tracking studies demonstrated that short lines facilitate reading in dyslexia, suggesting that it is the use of short lines (and not the device per se) that leads to the observed benefits. We propose that these findings may be understood as a consequence of visual attention deficits, in some with dyslexia, that make it difficult to allocate attention to uncrowded text near fixation, as the gaze advances during reading. Short lines ameliorate this by guiding attention to the uncrowded span.”
Historical fact:
The researchers point out that paper-printed texts “…historically imposed constraints on reading, whose impetus was driven largely by technological limitations that are no longer relevant.” Electronic devices can provide the ability to tailor the way text is formatted to suit the individual needs of the reader.
