Visual noise causes tunnel vision

Abstract

Ss had quickly to detect similarities between two uppercase letters presented peripherally and one other central letter falling on the fovea. These three charac- ters were so legible that this task was very easy when the three letters were flashed on by themselves. But the addition of extra letters to this display seriously impaired performance. The periphery of the retina could no longer accurately detect at a gl!U1ce whether items were Similar. Foveal performance was also af- fected to some extent by extra items in the periphery of the retina.