Computer-assisted eye examination. 3. Physiological indices for subjective refraction.

ABSTRACT In a computerized eye examination, there are times when the examiner is not at the patient's side. Hence, it was anticipated that non‐verbal indicators (i.e., EKG, blink, GSR) might be used to aid the computer in converging upon the proper lens correction more expediently. During actual clinical examinations at the University of California, Berkeley, EKG, blink, GSR, arm acceleration, and respiration measurements were made on 38 patients to determine if there is any correlation between any of the above and the patient's uncertainty about his/her response as indicated by reaction time and tone of voice. It was found that the EKG (four patients) and respiratory rate (four patients) were usually steady and rather insensitive to uncertainty of response. For three out of ten patients tested in the blink response, a rough correlation was found. The other seven patients produced non‐correlating responses. For twelve patients tested, the GSR was found to be an unreliable indicator of uncertainty. Further, eight patients exhibited little or no arm acceleration movements during the attentive portions of the eye examinations.