Dear Hoover,
Would you please post this message for help.
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Dear Colleagues,
I have had a letter from a Biology teacher in my daughter's
school asking for an opinion on a practical aspect of target
shooting. The letter (below) describes current practice and
its "theory". It queries the validity of that theory and asks
for ideas for an experimental approach that can be used to
test it.
If anyone can help with this, I'd be glad to hear from them.
Jack Moreland
"When target shooters are taking aim, they look with one eye,
the dominant one, through the rifle sight to check their aim.
They then adjust their body position to improve their aim.
This is repeated until they are satisfied with their position,
a process that may take anything from 10 seconds to several
minutes. They are taught, if coached properly, that they must
not stare down the sights for more than three or four seconds
at a time. They must look away for several seconds then sight
again in order to avoid fatiguing the retina. The reason given
is that prolonged fixed staring fatigues the retina and makes
the brain 'shift' the position so the image falls on a different
part of the retina. Effectively then, the shooter is aiming at a
perceptual mirage and the shot is inaccurate. I have been unable
to find any work published to substantiate this belief or any
method by which I could prove or disprove it or, better still,
quantify the effect."