• 1990 (Vol.4)
  • 1989 (Vol.3)
  • 1988 (Vol.2)
  • 1987 (Vol.1)

Present view of the human peripheral vision specifics

© 2019 G. I. Rozhkova, A. V. Belokopytov, E. N. Iomdina

Institute for Information Transmission Problems (Kharkevich Institute) RAS, 127051 Moscow, B. Karetny per. 19, Build. 1, Russia
Helmholtz National Medical Research Center of Eye Diseases, 105062, Moscow, Sadovaya-Chernogryazskaya, 14/19, Russia

Received 02 Feb 2019

"Quantitative experimental studies of peripheral vision are much more complicated than the studies of central vision because of the larger volume of necessary measurements in a larger area of the visual field and because of the difficulty of concentrating subjects' attention on peripheral test stimuli. It is widely believed that human peripheral vision is much inferior to central vision in its capabilities and plays a supporting role in the overall process of visual perception. However, a comparative analysis of the psychophysiological literature on studies of peripheral vision shows that most of the authors who conducted detailed and extensive investigations of its capabilities, had found a fine similarity between peripheral and foveal perception in conditions of a proper scaling the test object parameters – increasing their size, brightness and/or contrast with increasing eccentricity – and optimizing other experimental conditions according to the peculiarities of peripheral visual neural pathways and internal mechanisms of attention. The first part of the review provides brief information about the peripheral optics of the eye, the peripheral retina morphology and representation of the peripheral visual field in the visual areas of cerebral cortex. The second part is devoted to the analysis of the works on peripheral visual acuity and color perception, as well as of the experiments in which attempts were made to study “vision without fovea”, i.e. purely peripheral vision, using real or virtual occluders that “closed” the center of the retina physically or excluded the central part of computer-generated test images by means of a special software. In conclusion, the main changes in the prevailing ideas about peripheral vision and promising areas for its further research are briefly discussed."

Key words: peripheral vision, cortical magnification factor, visual acuity, color vision, vision without fovea

DOI: 10.1134/S0235009219040073

Cite: Rozhkova G. I., Belokopytov A. V., Iomdina E. N. Sovremennye predstavleniya o spetsifike perifericheskogo zreniya cheloveka [Present view of the human peripheral vision specifics]. Sensornye sistemy [Sensory systems]. 2019. V. 33(4). P. 305-330 (in Russian). doi: 10.1134/S0235009219040073

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