Developmental Optometrist - Dr J

My meeting with the Dr J was wonderful!

She showed me the equipment used on most of the researches I have been reading. I am particularly impressed with the "Visagraph-version 4.0". Visagraph is like goggles. It stays in touch with your skin and it is covered with sensors that can track every single eye movement with incredible precision. She was kind enough to test my reading skills (with a text). Visagraph has tracked both right and left eyes independently. After I finished reading, a computer prints all the information about every single movement.
There is a record of:
- number of fixations
- number of regressions
- average span of recognition (words)
- average duration of fixations
- number of saccade start differences
- events with multiple regressions
- mean regressions in multiple events, and lots of other information more related to the text.

Dr J also talked about the different parts of the eye that I considered important to my quest:
- The macula, is an ill-defined and somewhat yellow area of the central retina which surrounds the fovea centralis, which is important for good visual acuity.
- The fovea centralis is a small, thinned-out area of the retina consisting almost exclusevely of receptor cells, which provides high visual acuity. A healthy fovea is key to reading, driving, watching tv and ohter activities that require the ability to see detail.
- The PARA FOVEA, recognizes letters/notes while simultaneously fixating on a central target.

Understanding the para fovea, was very important for me. Pianists use the para foveal vision all the time. Dr J told me that para foveal vision and peripheral vision are not the same thing. Peripheral vision is much further and it is not what we use while reading. I was fascinated by the para fovea because I find myself seeing more and more out of the fovea as I continue with my sight-reading practice.
There are ways to improve this kind of "vision". She has recommended a soft ware called TVPP (Temporal Visual Processing Program) by Sydney Groffman. I am dying to get a hold of it. If you google TVPP, you can read a more detailed description of it. Unfortunately, this is not sold to "normal human beings". It is only sold to medical facilities. I have asked Dr J for help once again.

My thanks to Dr J for spending her free time enlightening me.