Distinguishing Dyslexia, Attention Deficit, and Learning Disorders: Insights from AI and Eye Movements

This study investigates whether eye movement abnormalities can differentiate between distinct clinical annotations of dyslexia, attention deficit, or school learning difficulties in children. Utilizing a selection of saccade and vergence eye movement data from a large clinical dataset recorded across 20 European centers using the REMOBI and AIDEAL technologies, this research study focuses on individuals annotated with only one of the three annotations. The selected dataset includes 355 individuals for saccade tests and 454 for vergence tasks. Eye movement analysis was performed with AIDEAL software. Key parameters, such as amplitude, latency, duration, and velocity, are extracted and processed to remove outliers and standardize values. Machine learning models, including logistic regression, random forest, support vector machines, and neural networks, are trained using a GroupKFold strategy to ensure patient data are present in either the training or test set. Results from the machine learning models revealed that children annotated solely with dyslexia could be successfully identified based on their saccade and vergence eye movements, while identification of the other two categories was less distinct. Statistical evaluation using the Kruskal–Wallis test highlighted significant group mean differences in several saccade parameters, such as a velocity and latency, particularly for dyslexics relative to the other two groups. These findings suggest that specific terminology, such as “dyslexia”, may capture unique eye movement patterns, underscoring the importance of eye movement analysis as a diagnostic tool for understanding the complexity of these conditions. This study emphasizes the potential of eye movement analysis in refining diagnostic precision and capturing the nuanced differences between dyslexia, attention deficits, and general learning difficulties.