LEARNING TO LOOK WITH ONE EYE - THE USE OF HEAD TURN BY NORMALS AND STRABISMICS

When asked to look through a tube, young children (normal, strabismic, monocularly enucleated) place it between the eyes, while older childr en turn the head or shut one eye. We videotaped 174 children (normals and strabismics, 2-17 yr of age) and 16 normal adults to find out when and why head turn occurs. In learning to look with one eye, children progressed through a sequence of four responses, categorized by age or amount of head turn. Binocular children use head turn apparently to a void diplopia, then, most learn to shut one eye. Adults, forced to use the ''non-preferred'' eye, revert to turning the head. Copyright (C) 1996 Elsevier Science Ltd.