The dual nature of lateral eye movements

Abstract

This study investigated the validity of lateral eye movements (LEM) as a measure of the individual differences and task demands aspects of LEM by comparing eye movements to information questions that had no clear hemispheric locus with eye movements to rhyme questions that demanded specific left hemisphere involvement. Fifty subjects were asked to respond to the two types of questions and the initial direction of their eye movement was recorded. The results indicated that LEM are a reliable measure of individual differences because both test-retest and split half reliabilities were high (.78 to .85). LEM were also shown to be responsive to task demands. The number of leftward LEM did not differ from rhyme and information questions, but there were more rightward LEM and fewer stares to the rhyme question. These results suggest that LEM are a reliable individual difference measure and are sensitive to task differences. There is clear evidence that LEM have neuropsychological implications, but every task demands the integrated functioning of the whole brain and these implications should not be overgeneralized.