The autokinetic effect (also referred to as autokinesis) is a phenomenon of visual perception in which a stationary, small point of light in an otherwise dark or featureless environment appears to move. It was first recorded by a Prussian officer (Present Day Germany) keeping watch, who observed illusory movement of a star near the horizon . It is presumed to occur because motion perception is always relative to some reference point, and in darkness or in a featureless environment there is no reference point, so the position of the single point is undefined. The direction of the movements does not appear to be correlated with involuntary eye movements, but may be determined by errors between eye position and that specified by efference copy of the movement signals sent to the extraocular muscles. Several researchers, including Richard Gregory, have shown that autokinesis occurs when no eye movements are recorded. Gregory has suggested that, with lack of peripheral information, eye movements which correct movements due to muscle fatigue are wrongly interpreted in the brain as movement of the perceived light.