Ocular dominance

Ocular dominance, sometimes called eye preference or eyedness, is the tendency to prefer visual input from one eye to the other. It is somewhat analogous to the laterality of right- or left-handedness; however, the side of the dominant eye and the dominant hand do not always match. This is because both hemispheres control both eyes, but each one takes charge of a different half of the field of vision, and therefore a different half of both retinas (See Optic Tract for more details). There is thus no direct analogy between "handedness" and "eyedness" as lateral phenomena. Approximately 70% of the population are right-eye dominant and 29% left-eye dominant. Dominance does appear to change depending upon direction of gaze due to image size changes on the retinas. There also appears to be a higher prevalence of left-eye dominance in those with Williams–Beuren syndrome, and possibly in migraine sufferers as well. Eye dominance has been categorized as "weak" or "strong"; highly profound cases are sometimes caused by amblyopia or strabismus. In those with anisometropic myopia (different amounts of nearsightedness between the two eyes), the dominant eye has typically been found to be the one with more myopia. As far as regards subjects with normal binocular vision, the widespread notion that the individual's better-sighted eye would tend to be the dominant eye has been challenged as lacking empirical basis. Dominance can change and may switch between the eyes depending on the task and physical condition of the subject (i.e. fatigue).