Oculomotor adaptation to wedge prisms with no part of the body seen

Abstract

When S looks at a visual target through prisms Adaptation to lateral prismatic displacement was described by von Helmholtz in 1867 .1 Wearing spectacles which contained wedge prisms, he first demonstrated the apparent displacement by looking at objects, then closing his eyes and trying to touch them. He reached incorrectly, the direction of his error being determined by the orientation of the prisms. He then found that he could eliminate the error in either of two ways: by reaching repeatedly for objects with eyes closed, or, "more quickly still," by touching the objects several times while watching his hand through the prisms. Having adapted by either of these techniquea, he repeated the initial procedure as a means of demonstrating that adaptation had taken place: "on trying the above experiment again, we shall discover that now we do not miss the objects but feel for them correctly.' , Helmholtz went on to investigate the locus of the adaptive effect. He found that, if he first adapted by doing all of the reaching with his right hand, keeping his left hand out of his field of view, the adaptive effect nevertheless transferred fully to his left hand.

On the failure of fowl to adapt to prism induced displacement: Some theoretical analyses

“…Under certain conditions human Os show adaptation when apparently the main source of feedback is oculomotor (McLaughlin, Rifkin, & Webster, 1966). Similar results are reported by Rock, Goldberg, & Mack (1966) and are assumed to involve the conflict between information derived from the structure of the scene and information derived from eye position.…”

Parametric adjustment in saccadic eye movements

“…In addition to the type of parametric adjustment reported here, there is another type which occurs in vergence and duction movements (Ludvigh, 1952) and in adaptation to prismatic displacement (McLaughlin, Rifkin, & Webster, 1966;McLaughlin & Webster, 1967). Both types involve an alteration in the relationship between voluntary direction of gaze and eye position.…”

Adaptation to displaced vision: A change in the central control of sensorimotor coordination.

“…We should have remained convinced of its validity but for some evidence of Bauer and Degner (1967), Harris, Harris, andKarsch (1966), andMcLaughlin, Rifkin, andWebster (1966). They have reported that viewing the nonlinear distortions produced by the prisms can cause antiadaptive shifts in pointing straight ahead with eyes closed.…”