Multifractal information on reading eye tracking data

Abstract

The study of the multifractal characteristics of physiological processes attracted wide interest in recent decades, since evidence has been found that the presence of certain alterations in these processes is reflected in the variability of their dynamics. However, neurocognitive processes have not been so widely studied from this perspective. We aim to provide new insights regarding the alterations that dyslexia produces in eye movements during reading. For this reason, we performed fractal and multifractal analysis of eye movements of children with and without dyslexia. This investigation showed that disorders in the cognitive process of reading, such as the one caused by dyslexia, induce slight alterations in the variability of eye movements usually found in neurotypical subjects. In particular, we found differences in the dynamics of fixations and saccades presented by children with dyslexia, a fact that is reflected in the long-range correlation behavior of the recorded eye-tracking data. This finding may provide hints about the neurocognitive organization of the reading process and how it is altered in dyslexic subjects, and also an inexpensive and non-invasive means to detect the condition in its early stages.