Skip to main content
Log in

Some characteristics of saccadic eye movements in children of primary school age

  • Published:
Documenta Ophthalmologica Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

The characteristics of saccadic eye movements have been extensively studied in adults; researches have also been devoted to the saccades of preschool age children. On the contrary, for primary school-age children no data exist; we investigate the eye movements (recorded utilizing an infrared technique) of six children 7 to 11 years old. The main results indicate that the values of some parameters (for example the saccadic latency and duration) are in the same range as the values of the correspondent parameters in adults, while the values of other parameters (in particular peak velocity and mean velocity/peak velocity ratio) are distinctly different from the ones measured in adult subjects.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  1. Boghen D, Troost BT, Daroff RB, Dell'Osso LF, Birkett JE. Velocity characteristics of normal human saccades. Invest Ophthalmol Vis Sci 1974; 13: 619–623.

    Google Scholar 

  2. Carpenter RHS. Movements of the eyes. London: Pion, 1977.

    Google Scholar 

  3. Abel LA, Troost BT, Dell'Osso LF. The effects of age on normal saccadic characteristics and their variability. Vis Res 1983; 23: 33–37.

    Google Scholar 

  4. van Opstal AJ, van Gisbergen JAM. Skewness of saccadic velocity profiles: a unifying parameter for normal and slow saccades. Vis Res 1987; 27: 731–745.

    Google Scholar 

  5. Inchingolo P, Spanio M, Bianchi M. The characteristics peak velocity: Mean velocity of saccadic eye movements in man. In: O'Regan JK and Levy-Shoen A (eds), Eye movements: from physiology to cognition. Amsterdam: Elsevier Science Publishers, 1987; 17–26.

    Google Scholar 

  6. Collewijn H, Erkelens CJ, Steinman RM. Binocular co-ordination of human horizontal saccadic eye movements. J Physiol 1988; 404: 157–182.

    Google Scholar 

  7. Kowler E, Martins AJ. Eye movements of preschool children. Science 1982; 215: 997–999.

    Google Scholar 

  8. Hainline L, Turkel J, Abramov I, Lemerise E, Herris CM. Characteristics of saccades in human infants. Vis Res 1984; 24: 1771–1780.

    Google Scholar 

  9. Baloh RW, Sills AW, Kumley WE, Honrubia V. Quantitative measurement of saccade amplitude, duration and velocity. Neurology 1975; 25: 1065–1070.

    Google Scholar 

  10. Schmidt D, Abel LA, Dell'Osso LF, Daroff RB. Saccadic velocity characteristics: intrinsic variability and fatigue. Aviation Space and Environmental Medicine 1979; 50: 393–395.

    Google Scholar 

  11. Baloh RW, Konrad HM, Sills AW, Honrubia V. The saccadic velocity test. Neurology 1975; 25: 1071–1076.

    Google Scholar 

  12. Pelisson D, Prablanc C. Kinematics of centrifugal and centripetal saccadic eye movements in man. Vis Res 1988; 28: 87–94.

    Google Scholar 

  13. Aslin RN, Ciuffreda KJ. Eye movements in preschool children [Letter]. Science 1983; 222: 74–75.

    Google Scholar 

  14. Dannermiller JL, Banks MS, Stephens BR, Hartmann EE. Eye movements in preschool children [Letter]. Science 1983; 222: 75.

    Google Scholar 

  15. Accardo A, Busettini C, Inchingolo P, dell'Aquila T, Pensiero S, Perissutti P. EIREMA 1: A device for the measurement of eye movements in strabismic children. In: Schmidt R, Zambarbieri D (eds.), Proceedings of 5th European Conference on Eye Movements, ECEM5, Pavia (Italy), 1989; 235–237.

  16. Inchingolo P, Spanio M. On the identification and analysis of saccadic eye movements: a quantitative study of the processing procedures. IEEE Trans Bio Eng BME-32 1985; 9: 683–695.

    Google Scholar 

  17. Robinson DA. Control of eye movements. In: American Physiological Society (ed)., Handbook of Physiology, Vol. 2, Bethesda, Maryland American Physiological Society, 1981: 1275–1320.

    Google Scholar 

  18. Leigh RJ, Zee DS. The neurology of eye movements. Philadelphia: F.A. Davis Co., 1983.

    Google Scholar 

  19. Accardo A, Pensiero S, Inchingolo P. Gaze position influence on saccadic latency for target displacements of different predictability. In: Luer G, Lass U (eds)., Proceedings of 4th European Conference on Eye Movements, ECEM4, Göttingen (Germany), 1987: 119–122.

  20. Findlay JM. Spatial and temporal factors in the predictive generation of saccadic eye movements. Vis Res 1981; 21: 347–354.

    Google Scholar 

  21. Zee DS, Robinson DA. A hypothetical explanation of saccadic oscillations. Ann Neurol 1979; 5: 405–414.

    Google Scholar 

  22. Bahill AT, Brockenbrough A, Troost BT. Variability and development of a normative data base for saccadic eye movements. Invest Opthalmol Vis Sci 1981; 21: 116–125.

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

Authors

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Accardo, A.P., Pensiero, S., Da Pozzo, S. et al. Some characteristics of saccadic eye movements in children of primary school age. Doc Ophthalmol 80, 189–199 (1992). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00161245

Download citation

  • Accepted:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00161245

Key words

Navigation