About twenty years ago, when I was working in academia, I met a fellow psychologist (I remember his name was Paul) who was pursuing postgraduate research in the field of peripheral vision. This subject falls within the purview of psychology as well, of course, as of optometry and vision science. It is not a major area of interest to psychologists, but it has attracted experimentation and a fair number of papers have been published over the years.
Paul became desperately interested in peripheral vision “in real life” (away from the laboratory). At all times, he became fascinated by how people's attention could be attracted by movement far away from the direction in which they were actually looking. People seemed to detect movement not only “out of the corner of the eye”, but somehow beyond it.
The cat entered the room quite silently. The door was, there was no doubt about it, somewhat behind rather than in front of a straight line drawn throught the woman from shoulder to shoulder. She was facing her father, four or five feet in front of her, with whom she was in conversation. At the moment that the cat paused just inside the doorway, she turned her head away from her father, in a swift and deliberate movement, to look directly at the animal.
There is a logical explanation. Her father had seen the cat and his eyes had flickered in that direction. She had picked up this cue, realised that he had seen something, and turned so that she herself could see what it was.
Paul became tremendously impressed by the power of people's peripheral vision. It is a rarely discussed faculty, but perception at the extreme limit of vision must have been vitally important for survival in past times. He would look for explanations when people seemed to exhibit powers of perception that defied what was logically possible.
Even so, he found himself wondering whether there was some power of peripheral perception that went beyond the visual, aural, or olfactory. This would not be something weird or magical, but something with a completely rational explanation that had not been factored in – rather as communication by pheramone was once outside the understanding of science.
Every so often I witness a demonstration of peripheral vision that gives me pause for thought. Have others ever found themselves wondering about this topic? If there is some unknown mental agency at work, it may not be far removed from the power to make someone turn round by staring at their back. Or perhaps you lack that ability?
Paul became desperately interested in peripheral vision “in real life” (away from the laboratory). At all times, he became fascinated by how people's attention could be attracted by movement far away from the direction in which they were actually looking. People seemed to detect movement not only “out of the corner of the eye”, but somehow beyond it.
The cat entered the room quite silently. The door was, there was no doubt about it, somewhat behind rather than in front of a straight line drawn throught the woman from shoulder to shoulder. She was facing her father, four or five feet in front of her, with whom she was in conversation. At the moment that the cat paused just inside the doorway, she turned her head away from her father, in a swift and deliberate movement, to look directly at the animal.
There is a logical explanation. Her father had seen the cat and his eyes had flickered in that direction. She had picked up this cue, realised that he had seen something, and turned so that she herself could see what it was.
Paul became tremendously impressed by the power of people's peripheral vision. It is a rarely discussed faculty, but perception at the extreme limit of vision must have been vitally important for survival in past times. He would look for explanations when people seemed to exhibit powers of perception that defied what was logically possible.
Even so, he found himself wondering whether there was some power of peripheral perception that went beyond the visual, aural, or olfactory. This would not be something weird or magical, but something with a completely rational explanation that had not been factored in – rather as communication by pheramone was once outside the understanding of science.
Every so often I witness a demonstration of peripheral vision that gives me pause for thought. Have others ever found themselves wondering about this topic? If there is some unknown mental agency at work, it may not be far removed from the power to make someone turn round by staring at their back. Or perhaps you lack that ability?