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Visual Information Processing Lab

A Florida State University Center


Welcome to the homepage of

the Visual Information Processing Laboratory at

the Florida Center for Reading Research



This website is intended as a quick reference for information on our work, primarily in the area of experimental reading research. We currently pursue several lines of basic research on information processing in reading as well as applied work aimed at improving reading instruction in the State of Florida. Collaborative projects include work in the areas of drug and alcohol addiction, attention deficits (ADHD), Neurolinguistics, Human Factors and research on aging.

We are not only participating in the cognitive and developmental psychology programs at Florida State, but our group is also an active part of the Florida Center for Reading Research (FCRR.org ). If you are a prospective student, please contact us for more information. This page is still under development, and we are grateful for feedback and suggestions.

 

Active Research Areas

Research on normal reading: Inter- and intraindividual variability, sequential vs. parallel word processing, reading in different languages and writing systems. Glenmore, a theory and model of information processing and eye movement control in reading.

Neuropsychology and Neurolinguistics: Effects of acute alcohol intoxication and chronic alcohol consumption, visual processing and executive functions in children and adults with ADHD, word recognition and reading in patients with aphasia.

Developmental reading research: reading behavior in beginning readers and in children with reading disabilities, predictors of learning to read, reading in old adults.

Human factors and training: Eye movements in HCI interfaces, computerized training of reading skills, multitasking in elderly adults.

----------------------------------  ADHD STUDY  ----------------------------------

This study wants to compare the eye movements of children with and without ADHD as they do some work on a computer.  Previous research has shown that there are differences in children’s eye movements in one or two tasks (such as looking toward or away from a dot on a computer screen), but a lot more work needs to be done in this area.  Eye movements are a great way to look at attention because eye trackers are very easy to use, and they are also very accurate.  We hope that by learning more about eye movements in children with ADHD, we can eventually help doctors diagnose this problem without having to rely only on questionnaires and interviews.

What normally happens when someone decides to participate is we contact them for a brief phone interview (about 10-15 minutes).  During that call we'll ask you some initial questions about your child.  This is mostly to rule out any other conditions (e.g., taking certain medications or having certain health conditions like epilepsy) that may affect your child’s performance on the eye movement tasks.  We can generally let you know at the time of the phone call if your child can participate (although in some rare instances, we'll have to call you back).  We'll either schedule your appointments at that time or when we call you back.

Because we are looking at four specific eye movement tasks, we have decided to spread out the time it takes to complete those tasks over two days.  When we schedule your appointment, we will schedule both days.  We prefer that the second session occur within two weeks of the first session.  There is no restriction on how close the second session can follow the first—if you would like to do them two days in a row, that’s just fine.

 

On the day of the appointment, it is important that if your child takes any stimulant medication, your child must not take that medication for at least 24 hours prior to the experimental session.  That means that if the appointment is at 3pm on Tuesday, your child can't take any stimulant medication after 3pm on Monday.  If you are uncomfortable with your child being unmedicated at school, we do have Saturday appointments as well as those after school during the week.

 

One thing that is important to note is that if either you OR your child are uncomfortable with the experiment, EITHER of you can stop it at any time.

 

If you’re interested in receiving a call for the initial interview, please email Jessi (jhill@psy.fsu.edu) with the best days and times to call you.

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Contact information for Dr. Ralph Radach (radach@psy.fsu.edu):

Department of Psychology
1107 W. Call Street
Tallahassee, FL 32306-4301
PDB Room 324

Florida Center for Reading Research
227 N. Bronough St. Suite 7250
Tallahassee, FL 32301
Room 3122