Related Experiment Video
Updated: Jun 10, 2026
Eye Movements in Visual Duration Perception: Disentangling Stimulus from Time in Predecisional Processes
Published on: January 19, 2024
Objective vs subjective measures of fixation disparity for short and long fixation periods
Wolfgang Jaschinski1, Stephanie Jainta, Wilhelm Bernhard Kloke
1Leibniz Research Centre for Working Environment and Human Factors, IfADo, Ardeystr. 67, D 44139 Dortmund, Germany. jaschinski@ifado.de
Purpose:
Fixation disparity, i.e. the vergence error for stationary fusion stimuli, can be measured objectively with eye trackers and subjectively with nonius lines. Between these two measures, previous studies found differences that tended to be proportional to the amount of forced vergence, i.e. the discrepancy between vergence and accommodative stimulus. We investigate whether objective and subjective fixation disparity might be similar without forced vergence.
Method:
We simultaneously measured fixation disparity with the EyeLink II system and with flashed dichoptic nonius lines in 17 subjects who observed targets at a vergence stimulus of 6 deg in an haploscope with 60 cm viewing distance.
Results:
We found individual differences in objective fixation disparity in a range of about 20 (eso) to -60 (exo) min arc which was considerably larger than the range of subjective fixation disparity. Results were similar for long fixation periods (about 15 s) and short fixation periods (about 1.5 s) between 5 deg saccadic gaze shifts. Further, objective fixation disparity was correlated with objective heterophoria, i.e. the vergence state without a fusion stimulus (r = 0.8, p < 0.001).
Conclusion:
Subjective fixation disparity explained only about 25% of the inter-individual variability in objective fixation disparity. The discrepancy between these two measures might be explained by sensory shifts in retinal correspondence, also in the present condition without forced vergence.
