Evaluation of visual function for long-term support of neurodevelopmental disorders

2023 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

• Project/Area Number: 22K18601
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Challenging Research (Exploratory)
• Allocation Type: Multi-year Fund
• Review Section: Medium-sized Section 9:Education and related fields
• Research Institution: Teikyo University
• Principal Investigator: Nakano Shun 帝京大学, 文学部, 研究員 (60898419)
• Co-Investigator(Kenkyū-buntansha): 早川 友恵 帝京大学, 文学部, 教授 (60238087)
• Project Period (FY): 2022-06-30 – 2024-03-31
• Keywords: 自閉症スペクトラム / 瞳孔 / 読字困難感

Outline of Final Research Achievements

This study aims to examine the relationship between sensory hypersensitivity/hyposensitivity and reading difficulties observed in Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) and to investigate the utility of pupillometry as an objective evaluation method for reading difficulties caused by photophobia in ASD. Through empirical experiments conducted on a typically developing group, the study assessed the relationship between autonomic nervous function during reading and tendencies towards ASD by measuring changes in pupil diameter during reading tasks. The execution time for the reading tasks did not differ across conditions of background color and character patterns. A significant negative correlation was observed between the average pupil diameter during the task and the execution time when presenting Kanji words with a black background and white characters. The results revealed a tendency for shorter execution times with larger pupil diameters during the task.

Free Research Field

心理学

Academic Significance and Societal Importance of the Research Achievements

本研究結果は、当初の目的であった自閉症スペクトラム障害における自律神経系と読字困難感の関係性を明らかにするには至らなかったが、瞳孔計測による自律神経系の活動傾向の評価が読字困難感の早期発見に有用である可能性を示した。本研究は、読字困難感に対する支援基盤構築には、本質の理解と客観的指標による評価法の確立の重要性を示すとともに、教育場面における独自困難感への合理的配慮の提供に向け、一定の成果をもたらすことができた。