A pupillometric study of developmental and individual differences in cognitive effort in visual word recognition

Abstract

Throughout the history of modern psychology, the neural basis of cognitive performance, and particularly its efficiency, has been assumed to be an essential determinant of developmental and individual differences in a wide range of human behaviors. Here, we examine one aspect of cognitive efficiency—cognitive effort, using pupillometry to examine differences in word reading among adults (N = 34) and children (N = 34). The developmental analyses confirmed that children invested more effort in reading than adults, as indicated by larger and sustained pupillary responses. The within-age (individual difference) analyses comparing faster (N = 10) and slower (N = 10) performers revealed that in both age groups, the faster readers demonstrated accelerated pupillary responses compared to slower readers, although both groups invested a similar overall degree of cognitive effort. These findings have the potential to open up new avenues of research in the study of skill growth in word recognition and many other domains of skill learning.

Visual word processing engages a hierarchical, distributed, and bilateral cortical network

“…A better characterization of these individual differences both within- and between-hemispheres, the structural and functional factors that influence them, and their association with variations in behavior across individuals warrants future research. 36 , 44 , 52 , 55 , 69 Second, the present study revealed significant engagement of the right hemisphere (particularly the STS+G) during visual word processing. Yet, the precise role played by the right hemisphere during visual word processing remains elusive, providing an exciting avenue for exploration in future research.…”

Applicability and usefulness of pupillometry in the study of lexical access. A scoping review of primary research

“…Moreover, 2 articles focused on pupillary behavior during word recognition in bilinguals ( Guasch et al, 2017 ; Toivo and Scheepers, 2019 ). Finally, 2 additional articles examined pupillary dilation (cognitive effort) in different types of readers during word recognition and subsequent reading ( Shechter and Share, 2021 ; Shechter et al, 2022 ).…”

“…The authors project that pupillometry may offer a more sensitive moment-by-moment glimpse into the dynamics of word recognition (including developmental, interindividual, and intraindividual variation). In a second study, Shechter et al (2022) assessed the sensitivity of the pupillary response during recognition and reading aloud of a series of words in children ( N = 34) and young adults ( N = 34), who were further classified into fast/slow readers. The results showed that children showed more significant cognitive effort (as evidenced by a greater pupillary response) than adults during word recognition and reading aloud.…”

“…In this respect, lexical-pupillometric studies are no exception. For example, independent of the level of processing assessed, all articles exhibited bounded sample sizes in each experiment performed (i.e., Recognition: n = 35, Guasch et al, 2017 ; n = 96, Toivo and Scheepers, 2019 ; n = 68, Shechter et al, 2022 . Semantic activation: n = 20, Egan et al, 2020 ; n = 30, Mathôt et al, 2017 ; n = 60, Geller et al, 2019 .…”

“…Regarding the experimental tasks used in lexical-pupillometric studies, at the level of word recognition and similar to traditional studies in the field, two articles used classical LDTs ( Guasch et al, 2017 ; Haro et al, 2017 ), and two additional studies used word recognition and subsequent reading methods ( Shechter and Share, 2021 ; Shechter et al, 2022 ). On the other hand, regarding the activation and semantic processing level, only semantic judgment tasks were stated in several articles ( Geller et al, 2019 ; Egan et al, 2020 ; Reilly et al, 2020 ).…”