Chapter 6 - EYE MOVEMENTS AND VISUAL PERCEPTION

Abstract

Occasionally, the eyes may appear to move together, smoothly and slowly; however, only when the observer follows the movement of some object in his field of view. It seems easy to follow quite closely what the observer is doing. Eye movements very conveniently betray a great deal about the distribution of a person's visual attention and, indirectly, about his deeper mental processes also. Growing realization of this fact, together with continuing refinement of techniques for monitoring eye position, largely explain the recent increase in interest in eye movements. Eye movements are no longer mainly studied in their own right in specialized laboratories; eye-movement measurement is becoming a routine and valuable contributor to the studies of many perceptual and cognitive problems. This chapter discusses the role of eye movements in perception rather than the study of eye movements themselves. It discusses the benefits and possible costs of having a perceptual system that is very reliant on eye movements; benefits in the sense that eye movements ensure the maintenance of vision and allow the effective deployment of the high-acuity foveal channel; costs in the sense that perception of a stable world is required despite the gross changes in retinal images produced by large and frequent eye movements.