OCULAR DOMINANCE

Abstract

Claude Bernard once wrote: "We are surrounded by phenomena which we do not observe." This is well exemplified by the fact that the unequal function of the two eyes in binocular vision is not commonly known or recognized. One knows that if one fixes both eyes on an object all other objects in front of or behind this object should appear double. Actually this is not the case, because one suppresses one of these images, and in the case of most persons it is the image of the left eye. For this reason the right eye is said to be the dominant eye. Although a human being is born with two eyes which act as a single unit, one assumes the rôle of the dominant or master eye. In cases in which vision is lowered by disease or refractive error, this fact is self-evident. But in cases of approximately