Lateral eye movement behavior in children.

The lateral eye movement phenomenon, studied frequently in adults, was investigated for 52 children aged 2-8 to 9-11, using both spatial and verbal-analytic questions. The phenomenon was observed in 50 of the 52 children and appeared well established by age 3 1/2; about half othe children were classifiable as either right movers or left movers. Some interesting developmental findings were noted, including a few important discrepancies with the results of adult studies. In addition, type of question had no effect on the direction of a child's eye movements. The implications of these findings were discussed.