Child reading a book
Use cases

Reading and language

Eye tracking offers valuable insights into the cognitive processes involved in language comprehension, production, and learning. Researchers use it to uncover the nuances of how individuals process linguistic information in real-time.

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  • The main advantage of eye tracking is that it doesn’t require children to do or say anything explicit. Eye tracking enables us to see if they are visually engaging with things that indicate understanding.

    Dr. Sudha Arunachalam

    New York University, LEARN LAB DIRECTOR

  • The use of eye tracking opens up the possibility to measure authentic behavior from the point of view of the subject.

    Dr. Simone C. Ehmig

    LEADER OF STIFTUNG LESEN’S INSTITUE FOR READING AND MEDIA RESEARCH

Language and text comprehension

Language and text comprehension

Tracking eye movement helps understand language and written text processing across multiple levels of analysis within the sentence: character, syllable, word, phrase, or sentence. The use of eye tracking can uncover atypical reading patterns or reading difficulties, such as dyslexia, offering the potential for objective, non-invasive assessments and early intervention strategies.

Person using Tobii Pro Chin Rest - Reading accessory

Use cases

Discover how Tobii eye trackers are used in language comprehension research.

Child looking through binoculars
Scientific publication

How curiosity boosts language learning in childhood

To further explore how language acquisition relates to emotional state, Dr. Vivien Outters, with her colleagues in Göttingen and Oxford University, conducted a word-learning recognition experiment with 3-year-old children.

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autism webinar
Customer stories

Understanding how children learn language

New York University’s Learn Lab uses eye tracking to study the learning mechanisms underlying language acquisition in children who are typically developing as well as children on the autism spectrum.

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Educational psychology

Educational psychology

Eye tracking can be a great tool to gain insights into learning behavior, cognitive load, and engagement with educational materials. The results help effectively design, evaluate, and improve educational materials and learning situations.

A boy reading on a Tobii Pro Spectrum eye tracker

Use cases

Discover how Tobii eye trackers are used in educational psychology. 

Stiftlung Lesen Case study
Customer stories

Assessing reading habits with eye tracking

Close to eight million people in Germany struggle with reading, and as one of the peak bodies for promoting literacy, Stiftung Lesen (German Reading Foundation) wants to change that. As part of its activities, the organization conducts research into the behaviors and reading habits of young people and adults.

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Person reading a book
Webinars

Eye read, therefore eye …?

In this talk, Dr. Catrysse gives an overview on how eye tracking can be used in order to examine students’ task-specific processing strategies in relation to learning from verbal material (i.e., words, paragraphs and texts).

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Relevant publications — Tobii Pro Spectrum

The effect of inter-letter spacing on reading performance and eye movements in typically reading and dyslexic children

Luniewska and colleagues (2023) study compared reading accuracy, comprehension, reading speed, and fixations while reading regular, spaced, and condensed text in dyslexic and typically reading children. They used Tobii Pro screen-based eye tracker to record eye movements during a natural sentence-reading paradigm. The study results showed that dyslexic children’s reading ability is not influenced by text crowding.

Tracking object-state representations during real-time language comprehension by native and non-native speakers of English

Kang and Ge (2022) examined how native and non-native English speakers keep track of implied object-state representations during real-time language processing. They used Tobii Pro screen-based eye tracker to record participants’ eye movements during a visual world paradigm. The study results suggest that non-native speakers showed a delay in real-time language comprehension compared to native speakers.

Reading alterations in Parkinson’s Disease indicate worse cognitive status

Tsitsi and colleagues (2023) assessed reading in individuals with Parkinson’s disease and controls. They recorded eye movements with Tobii Pro Spectrum while participants read a Swedish text. The study results showed that the participants with Parkinson’s performed fewer but longer fixations than controls. The researchers associated these reading patterns with cognitive alterations due to the disease.

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