Visual attention and reading: A test of their relation across paradigms

Abstract

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.