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Optokinetic and vestibular electronystagmography
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professional life. Records obtained from physical education students support this point of view. Photographs shnwing various hand and arm positions that may occur when a person is hanging on a horizontal bar, have been used in experiments designed to investigate the ease of posture pattern discrimination. When "perception time' is used as an indicator, significant differences are found for different patterns. Such differences can, at least temporarily, be leveled out after practice periods. If different patterns are ranked according to their perceptibility before the practice period, certain trends are evident. The rank orders for different subjects may, however, reveal important individual differences. By the method used it is possible to demonstrate some important aspects of perceptual learning. When solving the discrimination problem the subjects awareness of cue utilization is gradually replaced by unconscimls processes. Visually perceived postures and body movement patterns may be studied either as object perception or as person perception. The author considers posture pattern and body movement pattern discrimination essential in both fields, and he believes that the continued study of these phenomena may contribute to the understanding of human perception in everyday life situations.
O P T O K I N E T I C AND V E S T I B U L A R E L E C T R O NYSTAGMOGRAPHY Selected Psychologfcal Studies in Experimental Developmental and Diagnostic Research
C. KRIS Cambridge, Mass. (USA) Historical Introduction.
The experimental elicitation of the familiar "railway nystagmns" which is experienced by passengers when watching successive, stationary telegraph poles from a moving train, was first introduced by Barony (1921) for use in clinical studies of normal and pathological oeulomotor behavior. He used a rotating, vertically striped drum to investigate the opto-motor or "optokinetic" reaction or reflex, which consists of a slow deviation of the eyes in the direction of stripe- or drum motion, and a
822
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rapid phase during which the eyes are brought back to the center or reference position, or just beyond it. In addition, he was able to elicit similar nystagmi by rotating his subjects in a swivel chair (new called the Barany-chair), thereby bringing about vestibular or post-rotation nystagmus. While his methods were soon thereafter routinely applied to clinical investigations of vestibular defect (Rademaker & Ter Braak) and in the localisation of cerebral lesions (Fox and Holmes), the de~elopmerit, during the past 25 years, of electronically amplified precisiofi recordings of small and large eye-movements,--which began with the studies of Fenn and Hursh, and Miles, and was adapted for nystagmusregistration first by R. Jung (1939),--made possible their extended use in ophthalmological (Brockhurst & Lion), (Shaekel), and oto!ogical (McLay, Madigan & Ormerod) diagnostic research, and in experimental, developmental and comparative studies in the psychophysiology of vision and orientation (Kris). Method.
Electro-nystagmography, is the method of obtainlng potential difference measures corresponding in sign (direction) and magnitude (distance), to changes in eye-position (and its time derivatives, velocity and acceleration of eye-motion), during nystagmns. The corneo-fundal polarisatinn of the eye forms the physiological basis of the recorded potentials (Mowrer, Ruch and Miller). Continuous, binocular recordings are obtained from 4 pairs of laterally and supra- and infra-orbitally attached, nonpolarisable silver-silver chloride surface electrodes. These are separately inpntcoupled to wide-range, high impedance, fast response, matched D-C and/or A-C multiehannel ampli~er-recorder systems. Simultanecn~s but separate recording of horizontal and vertical eye-movement components is similarly applicable to many animals and to human infants, thereby facilitating direct, comparative and developmental studies of oculomotor behavior, and it makes possible the measurement of ~tystagmi in all directions of ocular deviation. (For details of method of measurement, inst~mentation and attachment, arrangement and preparation of electrodes, see Kris, 1960, Electro-oculography: pp. 6 9 2 - - 7 0 0 in "Medical Physics Ili" ed. O. Glasser, Year Book Publishers - - Chicago, Ill.). Purpose el Present Studies.
Studies here selected arc directed at demo~'~strating the successive or the simultaneous measurement of optokinefic (visually induced), and
WAHRNEHMUNGSPROBLEME
823
vestibular (trunk or head and neck rotation induced) nystagmus used as tools for the investigation of the "primacy" or hierarchical preponderance of one or the other of these competing and complementary eyenmvement controlling mechanisms, (a) in comparative studies of this type of oculo-motor reactivity in rabbits, cats, dogs and monkeys, as contrasted to mere "looking"; (b) in developmental recordings of the earliest oeulomotor responses of human infants and kittens; and (c) in several normal human adult subjects, and in 2 others, one afflicted with ocular impairment through detached retinas which resulted in congenital ocular nystagmus (Subject L.S.); and another, with cerebellar degeneration due to aging (Sub.iect A.J.C.). Induced nystagmus is compared with spontaneous nystagmus occurring frequendy in infants and in adults upon awakening or when drowsy; eyerovings during sleep are compared to the earliest eye-movements of human & infra-human infants; and the feasibility of measuring selfdirected as contrasted to pursuit nystagmi is discussed. (Results will appear in print in aMonograph entitIed"SurfaccElectrical Measurement of Eye Position, Eye Motion and Eye Potential Level Variation" (M1T Instrumentation Laboratory Publication 19601).
T H E R E L A T I O N S H I P S B E T W E E N R E A L AND A P P A R E N T M O V E M E N T AND R O R S C H A C H F O R M PERCEPTION ST. WELLS Mattydale, N.Y. (USA)
The purpose of this study was to determine empirically the relationship between two methods devised to assess the ability to identify exogenous and endogenous stimuli. The two methods were: 1. the Autokinetic Task, 2.
the McReynolds Concept Evaluation Technique (CET), modified in its scoring system.
Three hypotheses were formulated and tested. They were stated in terms of the scores yielded by the two methods, and they were based on the assumption that each method employed operations wnieh niade available to the subjects each type of stimulus. In the autokinetic task, real and apparent movement of a light were
82 l
professional life. Records obtained from physical education students support this point of view. Photographs shnwing various hand and arm positions that may occur when a person is hanging on a horizontal bar, have been used in experiments designed to investigate the ease of posture pattern discrimination. When "perception time' is used as an indicator, significant differences are found for different patterns. Such differences can, at least temporarily, be leveled out after practice periods. If different patterns are ranked according to their perceptibility before the practice period, certain trends are evident. The rank orders for different subjects may, however, reveal important individual differences. By the method used it is possible to demonstrate some important aspects of perceptual learning. When solving the discrimination problem the subjects awareness of cue utilization is gradually replaced by unconscimls processes. Visually perceived postures and body movement patterns may be studied either as object perception or as person perception. The author considers posture pattern and body movement pattern discrimination essential in both fields, and he believes that the continued study of these phenomena may contribute to the understanding of human perception in everyday life situations.
O P T O K I N E T I C AND V E S T I B U L A R E L E C T R O NYSTAGMOGRAPHY Selected Psychologfcal Studies in Experimental Developmental and Diagnostic Research
C. KRIS Cambridge, Mass. (USA) Historical Introduction.
The experimental elicitation of the familiar "railway nystagmns" which is experienced by passengers when watching successive, stationary telegraph poles from a moving train, was first introduced by Barony (1921) for use in clinical studies of normal and pathological oeulomotor behavior. He used a rotating, vertically striped drum to investigate the opto-motor or "optokinetic" reaction or reflex, which consists of a slow deviation of the eyes in the direction of stripe- or drum motion, and a
822
THEMA 23
rapid phase during which the eyes are brought back to the center or reference position, or just beyond it. In addition, he was able to elicit similar nystagmi by rotating his subjects in a swivel chair (new called the Barany-chair), thereby bringing about vestibular or post-rotation nystagmus. While his methods were soon thereafter routinely applied to clinical investigations of vestibular defect (Rademaker & Ter Braak) and in the localisation of cerebral lesions (Fox and Holmes), the de~elopmerit, during the past 25 years, of electronically amplified precisiofi recordings of small and large eye-movements,--which began with the studies of Fenn and Hursh, and Miles, and was adapted for nystagmusregistration first by R. Jung (1939),--made possible their extended use in ophthalmological (Brockhurst & Lion), (Shaekel), and oto!ogical (McLay, Madigan & Ormerod) diagnostic research, and in experimental, developmental and comparative studies in the psychophysiology of vision and orientation (Kris). Method.
Electro-nystagmography, is the method of obtainlng potential difference measures corresponding in sign (direction) and magnitude (distance), to changes in eye-position (and its time derivatives, velocity and acceleration of eye-motion), during nystagmns. The corneo-fundal polarisatinn of the eye forms the physiological basis of the recorded potentials (Mowrer, Ruch and Miller). Continuous, binocular recordings are obtained from 4 pairs of laterally and supra- and infra-orbitally attached, nonpolarisable silver-silver chloride surface electrodes. These are separately inpntcoupled to wide-range, high impedance, fast response, matched D-C and/or A-C multiehannel ampli~er-recorder systems. Simultanecn~s but separate recording of horizontal and vertical eye-movement components is similarly applicable to many animals and to human infants, thereby facilitating direct, comparative and developmental studies of oculomotor behavior, and it makes possible the measurement of ~tystagmi in all directions of ocular deviation. (For details of method of measurement, inst~mentation and attachment, arrangement and preparation of electrodes, see Kris, 1960, Electro-oculography: pp. 6 9 2 - - 7 0 0 in "Medical Physics Ili" ed. O. Glasser, Year Book Publishers - - Chicago, Ill.). Purpose el Present Studies.
Studies here selected arc directed at demo~'~strating the successive or the simultaneous measurement of optokinefic (visually induced), and
WAHRNEHMUNGSPROBLEME
823
vestibular (trunk or head and neck rotation induced) nystagmus used as tools for the investigation of the "primacy" or hierarchical preponderance of one or the other of these competing and complementary eyenmvement controlling mechanisms, (a) in comparative studies of this type of oculo-motor reactivity in rabbits, cats, dogs and monkeys, as contrasted to mere "looking"; (b) in developmental recordings of the earliest oeulomotor responses of human infants and kittens; and (c) in several normal human adult subjects, and in 2 others, one afflicted with ocular impairment through detached retinas which resulted in congenital ocular nystagmus (Subject L.S.); and another, with cerebellar degeneration due to aging (Sub.iect A.J.C.). Induced nystagmus is compared with spontaneous nystagmus occurring frequendy in infants and in adults upon awakening or when drowsy; eyerovings during sleep are compared to the earliest eye-movements of human & infra-human infants; and the feasibility of measuring selfdirected as contrasted to pursuit nystagmi is discussed. (Results will appear in print in aMonograph entitIed"SurfaccElectrical Measurement of Eye Position, Eye Motion and Eye Potential Level Variation" (M1T Instrumentation Laboratory Publication 19601).
T H E R E L A T I O N S H I P S B E T W E E N R E A L AND A P P A R E N T M O V E M E N T AND R O R S C H A C H F O R M PERCEPTION ST. WELLS Mattydale, N.Y. (USA)
The purpose of this study was to determine empirically the relationship between two methods devised to assess the ability to identify exogenous and endogenous stimuli. The two methods were: 1. the Autokinetic Task, 2.
the McReynolds Concept Evaluation Technique (CET), modified in its scoring system.
Three hypotheses were formulated and tested. They were stated in terms of the scores yielded by the two methods, and they were based on the assumption that each method employed operations wnieh niade available to the subjects each type of stimulus. In the autokinetic task, real and apparent movement of a light were