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Lookup NU author(s): Dr Samy Rima, Professor Michael Schmid
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (CC BY 4.0).
© 2026 The Authors. Developmental dyslexia (DD) is associated with deficits in visual motion perception and eye movement control, yet little is known about these processes at the pre-reading stage. We investigated motion perception and eye movement behavior in thirty-four pre-reading children (aged 4–6 years) during action video game Fruit Ninja (FN) play and rapid automatized naming (RAN) performance. FN and RAN scores were significantly correlated (r = 0.54, p = 0.001), suggesting a link between motion perception and object naming ability. While peripheral vision enabled faster fruit slicing (t = 11.28, p < 0.001), foveating objects was more predictive of FN and RAN performance. Children exhibited shorter reaction times for detecting right visual field (RVF) objects (t = 3.22, p = 0.003), aligning with adult findings. These results highlight the role of motion perception in reading development and support the potential of motion-based interventions for early reading difficulties.
Author(s): Chamani N, Rima S, Schmid MC
Publication type: Article
Publication status: Published
Journal: iScience
Year: 2026
Volume: 29
Issue: 8
Print publication date: 21/08/2026
Online publication date: 06/08/2026
Acceptance date: 20/07/2026
Date deposited: 17/08/2026
ISSN (electronic): 2589-0042
Publisher: Elsevier Inc.
URL: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.isci.2026.117063
DOI: 10.1016/j.isci.2026.117063
Data Access Statement: The dataset analyzed in this study is available upon request from the lead contact. The custom object detection and tracking code used in this study is deposited at Zenodo (https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.20758595) and is publicly available as of the date of publication. Any additional information required to reanalyze the data reported in this paper is available from the lead contact upon request.
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