Studies on the Function of Sighting Dominance

Abstract

The perceptual accuracy of the dominant and non-dominant eye was compared in four tachistoscopic experiments. The first two required that stimulus arrays be scanned during or immediately following stimulus presentations. The latter two tested digit recognition and dot localization in the absence of eye movement. Perceptual accuracy was significantly higher with the dominant eye than with the non-dominant in both scanning studies, while no perceptual differences were found between the eyes in the control experiments. In a fifth study, recordings of eye movement made during monocular scanning and searching tasks indicated that the dominant eye required significantly less time to complete the tasks than did the non-dominant. The results were interpreted as supporting Walls' (1951) theory that sighting dominance reflects asymmetrical motor functioning.