Displacement thresholds in central and peripheral vision during tracking

Abstract

The effects of stimulus duration and angular velocity on a subject's judgment of displacement threshold are examined. Twenty-six male subjects between 17-45 years with uncorrected 20:20 distance acuity and normal color perception and stereopsis studied a series of forced choice, paired comparison trials in which a long, thin, collimated horizontally oriented line moved downward through 12 angles ranging from 0.6-60 arcmin and judged which stimulus moved in each pair. The displacements were produced by 0.25, 0.5, 1, 2, and 4 sec stimulus duration and 2.5, 5, 10, and 15 deg/sec angular rates. Stimulus velocity, stimulus duration, mean threshold displacement, and mean confidence results are analyzed. It is observed that displacement judgment accuracy is increased with increasing stimulus duration. The data are compared with the results of Johnson and Leibowitz (1976) and Johnson and Scobey (1982), and good correlation with the Johnson and Leibowitz data is detected. The data reveal that threshold is based on a constant stimulus velocity over this range of durations and velocities. The data are applicable to the study of the final approach to landing of medium and large commercial jet aircraft.