Stabilized Images are images that remain immobile on the
retina
The retina (from la, rete "net") is the innermost, light-sensitive layer of tissue of the eye of most vertebrates and some molluscs. The optics of the eye create a focused two-dimensional image of the visual world on the retina, which then ...
. Under natural viewing conditions, the eyes are always in motion. Small eye movements continually occur even when attempting to maintain 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
In biology, adaptation has three related meanings. Firstly, it is the dynamic evolutionary process of natural selection that fits organisms to their environment, enhancing their evolutionary fitness. Secondly, it is a state reached by the po ...
to a stationary field. In 2007, studies indicated that stabilizing vision between
saccades
A saccade ( , French for ''jerk'') is a quick, simultaneous movement of both eyes between two or more phases of fixation in the same direction.Cassin, B. and Solomon, S. ''Dictionary of Eye Terminology''. Gainesville, Florida: Triad Publishi ...
selectively impairs vision of fine spatial detail.
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. Because no existing method creates perfect image stabilization, this leaves open the question of whether all perfectly stabilized images disappear completely.
References
External links
A modern approach to retinal stabilization
Eye
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