Small Voluntary Flicking and Following Eye Movements

Abstract

THE apparatus for studying eye movements previously described^1,2 has been modified by replacing the straight edges by 1-in. square neutral density wedges. Larger excursions of the eye can thus be recorded although the sensitivity is reduced. The purpose of the experiments described here has been to study eye movements when the direction of regard is consciously shifted from one fixation point to another, and also when fixating on a point performing either horizontal or vertical oscillations. The angle subtended by the oscillations and by the separation of the points was in the range 1–4° and is, we believe, smaller than any which has been mentioned in previous publications. Records have been obtained lor horizontal, vertical and oblique separations of the points, for movements made at the request of the operator and also in the observer's own time ; in the latter case attempts were made at different rates of movement—fast, medium and slow.