The Perceived Stability of Fixation

Abstract

Despite the small eye movements, we perceive a stable visual world and a relatively fixed fixation within that stable world. This study demonstrates a method by which we can be made aware of instability of the direction of fixation and it is also shown that we do not have a fixation “point,” but rather a fixation “area.” Analysis of the results shows why we are normally unaware of the magnitude of our small eye movements.