Binocular vision and eye-tracking, FHNW School of Engineering and Environment

Using modern, high-resolution video eye-tracking systems, we investigate fundamental processes of binocular coordination and binocular advantages (e.g. during reading) and evaluate the effects of interventions (e.g. vergence training, refractive or prismatic corrections).

Models of binocular coordination generally describe aspects of vergence eye movements; these eye movements rotate the eyes towards each other (convergence) or away from each other (divergence). Current models need to be refined, for example by incorporating accommodation effects, i.e. the “autofocus” properties of the visual system. For this purpose, the Institute of Optometry has a specialized experimental setup that allows the simultaneous measurement of binocular eye movements and the accommodation of each eye.

When examining a skill that is indispensable in modern society – reading, i.e. the visual extraction of information from written text – it becomes evident that successful reading requires processing across multiple levels, from visual and oculomotor to cognitive processes. Within this interaction, we can describe fundamental processes of binocular coordination and information uptake in detail and comprehensively. Refractive influences on these processes can also be characterized.