In the third Elkins' reading "Looking Away, Seeing Too Much," there is a small thing mentioned that a lot of people don't realize unless they truly think about it. That is, our peripheral vision is completely undependable. You might be thinking "What do you mean? My peripheral vision is fine!" While it may be true that you notice things in your peripheral vision, you can't really comprehend them. A little home test - turn on your TV to a random channel and put it on mute, then look just off to the left or right of the screen. After a few seconds, rewind your DVR and watch it again. If you can tell me in good conscience that you saw EXACTLY what was going on on your television screen, then congratulations, you're a medical marvel. Chances are though, all you saw were colors, shapes, and movement. The things that we "see" in our periphery aren't usually all that important, but it is a definite reminder that no matter how clear a picture we think we have of the world we look at, our eyes really can't capture the whole scene. Below I included a link for a little bit more official field of vision test.
http://www.testvision.org/
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People don't know EXACTLY whats going on even if they are looking directly at the TV set, let alone on mute or if your not looking directly at the TV, or both!. If i turned the TV on, put it on mute and then put on a random channel without looking and then I looked away and didn't look at the TV but saw the TV in my peripheral vision I totally feel confident in saying that that if i have seen the show before, I would be able to get exactly what show was on. If i saw in my peripheral certain shapes and colors that reminded me, or gave indication that they could be spongebob or something like that it shows how your peripheral vision does work. Its the ability to work along with your memory that peripheral vision activates its true power.
ReplyDeleteThis is so true and I agree with Marlon. TV has been with us since we were born and I feel (but maybe wrong) that everyone watches TV at least once a day. From watching it we become familiar with certain images and positions people have while on TV. So looking at a show with our peripherals, we may not know the exact show, but we could tell what type of show it is. (news, cartoon, sitcom, ect.) So to say that our peripheral vision is totally blurred, I think is wrong because with the memory of shapes and images kept in our minds, we make connection with our vision, which allows our peripherals to work.
ReplyDeleteI would have to agree with both Alexa and Marlon...although we cannot truly define what we see out of our periphery we can usually identify who or what it is based on our past experiences. As we grow and develop we instill certain images into our minds so that we can recognize them by a quick side glance.
ReplyDeleteI want to point out the importance and benefits of peripheral vision. Take driving for example. Our eyes are mainly focused on the road, the car in front of us, etc. Although our attention is divided between what we are consciously "looking at" we also have peripheral vision that signals us to dangers unconsciously - like deer on the side of the road or cars overtaking us and passing in the left lane. Similarly, and we all do it, we RELY on our peripheral vision to drive our cars when we look down to change the radio station, check how fast we are going, or read the tiny GPS screen on the dash. If you argue that peripheral vision is unreliable than why are we constantly relying on it?
ReplyDeleteI like your little test and I think you really capture what Elkins talked about. It is a really good way for a person to understand peripheral vision. I can’t wait to get home from work to try it and show it to my kids and wife. Neat post.
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