Enhancing the Perception of Form in Peripheral Vision

Abstract
Experiments are reported which show that the tachistoscopic presentation of a figure at the point of fixation makes salient the same figure where it occurs elsewhere in the visual field during the same flash. This induced saliency operates in all directions from the axis of gaze. If the eccentric figure is alone on a blank field the phenomenon is termed ‘eccentric enhancement’. The induced saliency of figures that are laterally masked within horizontal strings of figures that lie off the fixation point is termed ‘demasking’.