Spontaneous fixation tendencies for visual forms

Haidinger’s brush was used as a method of locating fixation positions on a display. The various experimental patterns studied showed: (1) It is the already organized cortical representation of shape which governs fixation, rather than the peripheral input per se; (2) Acute angles near 20 deg are the most effective angular stimuli: (3) For figures subtending angles less than 5 deg, the eye is directed toward the center of the figure. and not toward its edge; and (4) Removing one segment from a completely enclosed figure may not alter the mean fixation position.