Abstract
We have raised the question of whether performance in a change detection task relates to reading ability in children. Using a Display-Gap-Display paradigm with 4 letters in circular place-holders, we showed that poor readers required longer exposure to the first Display in order to detect change as well as normal readers. In this experiment we pursued the question of whether masking provided by the target place holders, surrounding the target letters contributed to the change blindness, whether poor readers needed less masking to impair their detection of change than good readers and whether the choice of letters as targets was critical to the difference in performance between good and poor readers. Change detection performance was measured by measuring the threshold luminance contrast of circular place holders filled with dynamic random noise in an adaptive thresholding process. Stimuli were created and presented using VPixx. 16 poor readers (Neale Analysis reading age (M=7.8), chronological age (M=10.1)) were compared with 15 good readers (Neale age (M=11.6) chronological age (M=9.7)) on a letter change detection task. ANOVA showed significantly better change detection performance for the good readers (p = 0.007), in that good readers could detect change in the presence of much higher masking contrast. There was also overall a strong upper field performance advantage (p = 0.005). In a second experiment 10 of the poor readers and 14 of the good readers performed an object change detection (red or blue, horizontal or vertical rectangles). Change detection was again impaired for the poor readers (F(1, 44) = 6.0, p = 0.018). Thus self-masking by targets plays a strong role in the induction of change blindness. Poor readers also show consistently reduced change detection performance, suggesting a susceptibility to distraction through masking.