AsianScientist (May 24, 2018) – Scientists in Japan have found that humans are able to perceive objects beyond their visual field. Their findings are published in Scientific Reports.
Spatial representations of surroundings, including those outside the visual field, are crucial for guiding movement in a three-dimensional world. The visual system appears to provide sufficient information for movement despite our visual field being limited to the frontal region.
In this study, a research group led by Professor Satoshi Shioiri from the Research Institute of Electrical Communication at Tohoku University in Japan used a visual search experiment to demonstrate that the human visual system can perceive things beyond the limits of the visual field. The team designed a six-panel display which covered the 360-degree area surrounding the viewer. On each panel display, six letters appeared at the same time.
The viewer was asked to find a specific letter, and the time taken to find the target was recorded. After repeated exposure to the same spatial layouts surrounding the viewer, locating the target object became faster even if the viewer had no explicit knowledge of the repetition. This happened even when the target object was located at the rear, which shows that visual processing is not limited to the visual field, but extends to a wider field around the viewer.
The results indicate that representations of surroundings exist in the brain that can be used to ‘look back’ without the need for turning around, which the researchers suggest is necessary for smooth and efficient movement. In other words, our brain constructs a 360-degree world even though visually we are usually only aware of the area in front of us.
The article can be found at: Shiori et al. (2018) Spatial Representations of the Viewer’s Surroundings.
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Source: Tohoku University; Photo: Shutterstock.
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