Rapid Naming and Reading: Eye-Tracking Insights into Dyslexia

About the Project

Project:

Developmental dyslexia affects 5–17% of school-age children, posing significant challenges for literacy acquisition and educational success. One cognitive skill strongly linked to reading proficiency and difficulties—including dyslexia—is Rapid Automatized Naming (RAN), the ability to quickly name familiar stimuli such as letters, numbers, colours, and objects. RAN is widely used in literacy screening and dyslexia diagnosis and is considered a robust predictor of reading outcomes across ages, ability levels, and languages. Yet, the cognitive mechanisms underlying the relationship between RAN and reading remain poorly understood, limiting our ability to design effective interventions.

This project offers a novel, multicomponent approach by integrating eye-tracking and voice recording to capture visual processing, lexical access, articulation, and—critically—eye-voice coordination during RAN tasks. Few studies have combined these technologies to examine RAN processes longitudinally, making this work uniquely positioned to uncover how these components interact and predict future reading skills. Insights from this research will advance theoretical models of reading development and inform targeted interventions for children at risk of dyslexia. Additionally, the Project will involve experimental evaluation of RAN-based interventions to improve reading accuracy and fluency, bridging cognitive theory with practical application. Furthermore, this PhD project will foster collaborations with primary schools, not only for research purposes but also to translate experimental findings into practical applications in education.

Training opportunities:

• Eye-tracking methodology (with combined voice-recording)
• Data processing and analysis program such as PRAAT, Eyedoctor and R
• Complex statistical analysis using linear mixed modelling in R
• Analysis of large datasets

Outputs: The PhD project will produce three peer reviewed articles in high impact journals.

Apply at:

https://le.ac.uk/study/research-degrees/research-subjects/psychology-and-vision-sciences

PhD entry requirements:https://le.ac.uk/study/research-degrees/entry-reqs

Supervisor contact details:

Dr Victoria Adedeji - via4@leicester.ac.uk

Dr Ascensión Pagán - appc1@leicester.ac.uk