Egocenter location in children enucleated at an early age.

In normal binocular vision the origin of judgments of visual direction is the egocenter located on the median plane of the head, midway between the two eyes. For children enucleated at an early age there is abrupt cessation of binocular input to the visual cortex. We evaluated the effect of early removal of one eye on the location of the egocenter, comparing the results in enucleated children to normal binocular children tested monocularly. We found a significant shift of the egocenter towards the remaining eye of the enucleates that was unrelated to the age at enucleation. At least up to 4 years of age, egocenter location is plastic and can be modified by the complete monocularity imposed by enucleation.