Stabilized images

This article is about the optical phenomenon. For the photography technique, see Image stabilization.

In vision science, stabilized Images are images that remain immobile on the retina. Under natural viewing conditions, the eyes are always in motion. Small eye movements continually occur even when attempting fixation (the maintenance of steady gaze on a single point). Experiments in the early 1950s established that stabilized images result in the fading and disappearance of the visual percept, possibly due to retinal adaptation to a stationary field.[1] In 2007, studies indicated that stabilizing vision between saccades selectively impairs vision of fine spatial detail.[2][3][4]

Images can be stabilized mechanically with optics mounted on the eye itself, or the image can be continually updated on a display to counteract the effects of eye movements.[5] Because no existing method creates perfect image stabilization, this leaves open the question of whether all perfectly stabilized images disappear completely.[6]

  1. ^ Riggs, L. A.; Ratliff, F.; Cornsweet, J. C.; Cornsweet, T. M. N. (1953). "The Disappearance of Steadily Fixated Visual Test Objects". Journal of the Optical Society of America. 43 (6): 495–501. Bibcode:1953JOSA...43..495R. doi:10.1364/JOSA.43.000495. PMID 13070111.
  2. ^ Rucci, M., Iovin, R., Poletti, M., Santini, F. (2007). "Miniature Eye Movements Enhance Fine Spatial Detail." Nature,447(7146), 851-854.
  3. ^ "Eye flickers key for fine detail". BBC News. June 2007.
  4. ^ Alexander RG, Martinez-Conde S (2019). "Fixational Eye Movements". In Klein C, Ettinger U (eds.). Eye Movement Research: An Introduction to its Scientific Foundations and Applications. Studies in Neuroscience, Psychology and Behavioral Economics. Cham: Springer International Publishing. pp. 73–115. doi:10.1007/978-3-030-20085-5_3. ISBN 978-3-030-20085-5.
  5. ^ Santini, F., Redner, G., Iovin, R., Rucci, M. (2007)."EyeRIS: A general-purpose system for eye movement contingent display control" Behavior Research Methods. 39(3), 350-364.
  6. ^ Arend, L. E.; Timberlake, G. T. (1986). "What is psychophysically perfect image stabilization? Do perfectly stabilized images always disappear?". Journal of the Optical Society of America A. 3 (2): 235–41. Bibcode:1986JOSAA...3..235A. doi:10.1364/josaa.3.000235. PMID 3950797.