[Study on human eye movements induced by prolonged eye closure and lid opening--report 2. Closing and opening of...

The eye movement during prolonged eye closure and the following eye opening has not been studied precisely. In the present study we evaluated the eye movement during prolonged eye closure and the following eye opening using a magnetic search oil method. In a bright room, the exact moment of recognizing a visual target during eye opening could not be determined. Therefore, other conditions were used to elucidate the precise relationship between the presence and lack of visual input during eye opening. Eye movement during eye opening was accomplished in three phases. The first phase had rapid movements like visually guided saccades toward the imaged target. The second phase had slow movements and drift toward the imaged target, and the final eye position was reached within 3 degrees from the target from 5 different gaze directions. The third phase was final visually evoked corrective saccades and the subjects found the target. We discuss the origin of these eye movements.