Significance of Listing's Law

By staying on Listing's plane (i.e. q1 = 0)
  • the effort to hold an eccentric position both during saccades and after saccades is minimized.
  • but sub-optimal rotations (w) are needed so that position (q) remains optimal.

Why?

  • Possibility 1: work against muscle elasticity is greater than the work against muscle viscosity
  • Possibility 2: more time spent between saccades than during saccades

Copyright © 1996 Tutis Vilis and Douglas Tweed
University of Western Ontario
London Ontario Canada
Updated October 28, 2005

Comments welcome. Email to tutis.vilis@schulich.uwo.ca