Aniseikonia and fixation performance: effect of retinal stimulus location

It has been shown previously that induced aniseikonia amplifies any latent fixation eccentricity associated with binocular fusion stress. This study determines if the retinal location of the stimulus plays a part in this effect. The stimulus consisted of a vertical border formed by the juxtaposition of two fields of unequal luminances and a line segment parallel to the border whose distance from the border can be varied. At the same time, the border allowed the application of a previously tested method of measuring fixation eccentricity, based on the border-enhancement response. It was found that the fixation eccentricity produced by aniseikonia is maximal for the smallest distance of the variable target from the border but unaffected by the larger distances tested. It was concluded that the retinal location of the stimulus has an important influence on the response to aniseikonia.