The Moving Tablet of the Eye The Origins of Modern Eye Movement Research

by Wade, Nicholas J.; Tatler, Benjamin W.

• ISBN13: 9780198566175
• ISBN10: 0198566174
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2005-09-01
• Publisher: Oxford University Press

Summary

Eye movements are a vital part of our interaction with the world. They play a pivotal role in perception, cognition, and education. Research in this field is now proceeding at a considerable pace and casting new light on how the eyes move and what information we can derive during the frequentand brief periods of fixation. However, the origins of this work are less well known, even though much of our knowledge was derived from this research with far more primitive equipment. This book is unique in tracing the history of eye movement research. It shows how great strides were made in this area before modern recording devices were available, especially in the measurement of nystagmus. When photographic techniques were adapted to measure discontinuous eye movements, fromabout 1900, many of the issues that are now basic to modern research were then investigated. One of the earliest cognitive tasks examined was reading, and it remains in the vanguard of contemporary research. Modern researchers in this field will be astonished at the subtleties of these early experimental studies and the ingenuity of interpretations that were advanced one and even two centuries ago. Though physicians often carried out the original eye movement research, later on it was pursued bypsychologists - it is within contemporary neuroscience that we find these two strands reunited. Anyone interested in the origins of psychology and neuroscience will find much to stimulate and surprise them in this valuable new work.

Table of Contents

Preface	vii
Informing contemporary research	1	(32)
Introduction	1	(6)
Scanning the way the eyes move	7	(7)
Modern eye movement measuring techniques	14	(16)
Afterimages	16	(1)
Attachment devices	17	(3)
Optical devices	20	(5)
Remote devices	25	(2)
Electro-oculographic devices	27	(1)
Portable eye tracking techniques	28	(2)
The moving tablet of the eye	30	(3)
Origins of eye movement research	33	(46)
Introduction	33	(2)
Binocular eye movements	35	(12)
Strabismus	42	(5)
Oculomotor anatomy and physiology	47	(6)
Internal motions of the eye	53	(7)
Accommodation	53	(7)
External motions of the eye	60	(7)
Distinct vision	62	(5)
Afterimages	67	(4)
William Charles Wells	71	(2)
Erasmus Darwin's Zoonomia	73	(6)
Nystagmus	79	(36)
Introduction	79	(2)
Visual vertigo	81	(5)
Early history of vertigo	83	(3)
Wells on vertigo	86	(2)
Darwin on vertigo	88	(3)
Wells and Darwin	91	(7)
Purkinje and Flourens	98	(3)
Mach, Breuer, and Crum Brown	101	(5)
James and Barany	106	(4)
Griffith and Dodge	110	(5)
Saccades and fixations	115	(52)
Introduction	115	(1)
Fixations	116	(16)
The stability of fixation	117	(1)
Torsion	118	(3)
Donders' law and Listing's law	121	(5)
Helmholtz and Hering	126	(6)
Saccades	132	(16)
Javal	134	(2)
Lamare	136	(3)
Tscherning	139	(1)
Origins of the term `saccade'	140	(1)
Hering	141	(2)
Crum Brown	143	(2)
Dodge	145	(3)
Did Javal discover saccades?	148	(4)
The discoverers of saccades	152	(1)
Developments after Dodge	152	(15)
Delabarre and Huey	153	(2)
Stratton	155	(3)
Judd	158	(4)
Buswell	162	(5)
Visual motion illusions and eye movements	167	(34)
Introduction	167	(3)
Induced motion	170	(4)
Motion aftereffect	174	(9)
Visual vertigo	183	(4)
Autokinetic motion	187	(3)
Stroboscopic motion	190	(3)
Vection	193	(5)
Eye movements and visual motion	198	(3)
Perceptual stability and eye movements	201	(48)
Introduction	201	(2)
Stability during eye movements	203	(15)
Inflow and outflow	205	(7)
Motion parallax	212	(6)
Stability and saccades	218	(20)
Perceptual stability across fixations	227	(2)
Mental representation	229	(7)
Is representation necessary?	236	(2)
Stability and fixations	238	(11)
Stabilized retinal images	241	(3)
Entoptic phenomena	244	(5)
Summary and conclusions	249	(20)
Introduction	249	(1)
Emergence of methods for measuring eye movements	250	(4)
Eye movement and eye position	254	(3)
Saccadic and pursuit eye movements	255	(2)
Normal and abnormal eye movements	257	(2)
Sleep and wakefulness	259	(1)
Developmental trends	259	(2)
Perceptual and cognitive processes	261	(4)
Moving tablets---literature on eye movements	265	(1)
Conclusion	266	(3)
References	269	(28)
Name index	297	(4)
Subject index	301