HEAD-EYE COORDINATION DURING A NATURAL TAPPING TASK

Abstract

This thesis describes the research of Herst et al. (2001) who examined the coordination of head and eye movements while participants searched for targets under natural conditions in which the head was free to move. This investigation was done because, while the technical difficulties in measuring these patterns of head-eye coordination in humans have been overcome, the results obtained over the last 35 years have yet to show what the typical pattern of head-eye coordination looks like. Herst et al. (2001) described the `natural' temporal coordination of head and eye of four participants who tapped a sequence of targets arranged in 3D on a worktable in front of them. The results were not expected based on prior studies of head-eye coordination performed under less natural conditions. This thesis reinterprets the original (2001) findings and draws new conclusions in the light of new research on head-eye coordination conducted since then.