Wilkinson, K., & Weiss, A. (2017, November). Background color cues do not facilitate attention to single symbols by individuals with down syndrome. Poster presentation at the Annual Conference of the American Speech-Language Hearing Association (ASHA), Los Angeles, CA.
Wilkinson & Weiss (2017) Poster (Pdf)
Abstract: The design of AAC displays may influence how well individuals can use them. We examined how the presence or absence of background color of symbols displayed on an AAC design impacted target selection in individuals with Down syndrome as well as language-matched children without disabilities. Background color cuing had little effect on any measures of visual attention during search for single symbols in either group.
Through Tobii T-60, an eye-tracking monitor, Wilkinson and Weiss were able to look at the eye-gaze fixation patterns to determine whether or not color influenced visual search. Results showed that the accuracy of target selection of symbols, latency to fixate, and latency to click was not influenced by background colors. Further research is being done to determine if background color cues influence symbol selection in larger grid arrays.
