Perceptual segregation and retinal position.

Abstract

This study is concerned with the dependence of perceptual segregation performance on the retinal position at which the performance is evaluated. Segregation performance consisted in detecting a target texture composed of line elements of constant length and orientation embedded in a background texture. The background texture was made up of the same line elements as the target texture but the background line elements were set at 90 deg to the target elements. Results showed that, at least for 40- and 50-ms presentation times, this task could be much more effectively completed outside the fovea centralis than within this area. These findings indicate that extrafoveal areas of the retina may make a significant and previously underestimated contribution to perceptual segregation.