Fundamental Steps in the Development of Adaptive Behavior of the Eyes

Abstract

Records of human eye-movements involved in following a simple object of regard during its harmonic oscillation, in the foveal fixation of a motionless object, and in the fixation movements to new objects of regard, show characteristics which lead us to the following generalizations and hypotheses: Approximation and correction is a type of adjustment that appears in simple forms of human behavior as well as in the conduct of affairs and the development of science. While the first responses to a new situation often follow the principle of trial and selection, subsequent adjustment in the selected mode of response commonly follows other formulae, frequently that of approximation and correction. The latter seems to be a complement of the former principle. We conjecture that it ranks close to trial and error as a general formula of adjustment. The tendency of an adjustment pattern to break down at or near its physiological limit and to give place to a simpler form of reaction appears in response to relatively simple stimuli as well as in response to the complex stimuli of our social and economic environment. We conjecture that it represents some fundamental characteristic of neural action that may be found in a great variety of human and infra-human behavior. It is probably related to relative fatigue and to the rivalry and competition for control of common paths. Anticipatory reaction is found in a simple form of human adaptive behavior as well as that which depends on insight and purpose. We conjecture that it is one of the fundamental forms of learning to meet familiar situations. Whether it develops on the basis of antecedent cues which are so related to the adequate stimuli that they become secondary or conditioned stimuli, or on the basis of the constellation of stimuli in configurations, is a question that our data did not answer.