Midline versus eccentric pattern perception with acuity equated.

There is reason to believe that the difference between central and peripheral vision may not be due exclusively to differences in acuity. This idea was tested, with four subjects, by lowering foveal acuity to that of 40 degrees eccentricity and then comparing central and peripheral pattern perception. It was hypothesized that, because there were qualitative differences in the two systems, central pattern perception would still be superior to peripheral pattern perception. The results did not support the notion that there are differences which cannot be accounted for by acuity. Differences were minimal (statistically nonsignificant), and slight trends suggested peripheral superiority.