Re: An eyes exam

[Stanley Chiocchio <stanleychiocchio@HOME.COM>]

Hello
Could the improvement be caused by the brain processing and making a sort of
computer inhanced image...giving us the clear benefil of both eyes seeing
better than one?  I could always pass my flight physical at 20/20 in each
eye but I was 20 /10 with both eyes open, Still can,  but now it is in my
trifocals...sic transit gloria mundi! Stan Chiocchio, Physics teacher,
Newman School
----- Original Message -----
From: "Brian Whatcott" <inet@INTELLISYS.NET>
To: <PHYS-L@lists.nau.edu>
Sent: Sunday, December 30, 2001 7:53 AM
Subject: Re: An eyes exam


> Spoken like a real pilot!
> There is a real tendency for aircrew to memorize benchmark
> training missions -  so there is a continuing need to set up new lesson
> plans, with weather, locales and malfunctions to polish flight
> and crew coordination skills.
>
> In this connection, there is the folk story of the two senior British
> commanders, one of whom could not pass a visual test, and the
> other who could not pass an auditory test - but together, they did
>   what was necessary.
>
> Brian W
>
>
>
> At 10:34 PM 12/29/01, you wrote:
> >         With enough practice it becomes really clear.  There's no eye
> > chart anywhere in sight, but I can somehow make out:
> >                         AELTYPHEALT
> > I think it's a question of motivation.
> >                                         Regards,
> >                                                 Jack
> >
> >
> > On Sat, 29 Dec 2001, John Clement wrote:
> >
> > > Actually I discovered this in the early 60s by self testing my eyes
with a
> > > wall mounted eye chart.  At that time I had better than 20/20 and it
> > > improved to around 20/10 on the chart.  I suspected, and still suspect
that
> > > in my case part of the improvement is due to canceling out some of the
> > > effects of astigmatism.  Since each eye has a dramatically different
> > > astigmatic correction, this is a distinct possibility.  Now with a bit
of
> > > presbyopia I find that my 2 eyes focus at slightly different
distances, but
> > > the astigmatism produces a broader range of focus.  Both eyes have
> > > noticeably better focus than either one alone.  I believe in my case
that
> > > the improvement may have been a couple of lines or so.
> > >
> > > Incidentally the presbyopia caused the 2 eyes to fail to work together
as
> > > well.  As a result I had to get glasses when some music I was
attempting to
> > > read popped in and out of focus.
> > >
> > > I am surprised that the effect was discovered only in the 90s.  I
suspect
> > > that there are probably prior reported observations about the effect,
but
> > > not necessarily with the degree of precision of the more recent
findings.
> > > Probably the early writings about this effect have been overlooked
because
> > > they are not in the medical journals.  Maybe someone on this list has
come
> > > across an autobiography or the writings of an older scientist who
noticed
> > > this effect.  I would not be at all surprised if Ben Franklin had
written
> > > about it.
> > >
> > > John M. Clement
> > > Houston, TX
> > >
> > > > At 04:03 PM 12/29/01, Ludwik wrote:
> > > > > During an eyes exam I recognized all letters in the first three
> > > > > rows with the left eye but not the letters in the fourth row. The
> > > > > same happened with my right eye. But all letters in the fourth
> > > > > row became clearly recognizable when both eyes were open.
> > > > > The doctor said that this is the synergetic (sp?) effect. I am
> > > > > trying to reproduce this at home but it is not as dramatic as in
> > > > > his office. Perhaps this strange effect is font-dependent or
> > > > > illumination-dependent. Any comments?
> > > > >  Ludwik Kowalski
> > > >
> > > >
> > > > This URL leads one to expect an 11% or  a half  line improvement
> > > > on a visual chart on average for binocular versus monocular testing.
> > > >
> > > > <http://www.lighthouse.org/research_acuity.htm>
>
> Brian Whatcott
>    Altus OK                      Eureka!