The Game of Reading: When Saccades and Fixations Play on a Seesaw

Carlo Aleci^1,

¹Department of Ophthamology, The Gradenigo Hospital, Turin, Italy

Cite this paper

Carlo Aleci. The Game of Reading: When Saccades and Fixations Play on a Seesaw. American Journal of Medical and Biological Research. 2014; 2(2):31-36. doi: 10.12691/AJMBR-2-2-1

Abstract

Although in experimental psychology the fixation/saccadic sequence is a main topic of debate, so far in the clinical ophthalmological field such an argument has raised relatively few interest. Nevertheless, studying the possible alterations of the saccadic rate and of the positioning of fixations when analyzing a visual scene may illuminate on the source of reading difficulty in a variety of patients, like dyslexic children or those affected by hemianopia as well as central visual field impairment. Recently, new light has been shed on the saccadic/fixation dynamics, both in the temporal and spatial domain. In addition, according to recent findings a visuoperceptive distortion could potentially affect the saccades/fixation sequence, making the matter much more complex than expected. The aim of this article is therefore to describe the saccadic/fixation seesaw under the temporal and spatial perspective and to disclose the possible influence of visuoperceptive impairments.

Keywords

saccades, fixations, magnocellular system, parvocellular system, spatial relationship perception, anisotropy

Copyright

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License. To view a copy of this license, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

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