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Saccades without eye movements

Abstract

When reading text, human subjects use a pattern of eye movements consisting of fast saccadic movements and fixations1. We have found a subject who cannot make eye movements. Her visual perception is surprisingly normal and she is able to read at high speeds. She uses movements of the head to compensate for the absence of eye movements. Her head movements during reading have a saccadic character and show many of the features that characterize eye movements.

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Figure 1: Recordings of head and eye movements.

References

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Gilchrist, I., Brown, V. & Findlay, J. Saccades without eye movements. Nature 390, 130–131 (1997). https://doi.org/10.1038/36478

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