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WalkerBRiley t1_iwvs8hp wrote

Reply to comment by jsshouldbeworking in do we know how chameleons "see" Things with two independent eyes? Is it integrated? Side by side? by VivendusMoriendumEst

> You cant even see details a few inches from what you are looking at.

I mean this is untrue for the most part. I can tell you the hat on the stand twelve inches to the left of my focal point is blue. The lunch bag further is black. I can tell you what's on my other monitor.

I can't give you words or tiny details but to say I can't 'see any details' is just false. Our peripheral vision does a really good job at constructing a basic idea of our surroundings even when not focused on them. We'd never have survived if it didn't.

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Sharlinator t1_iwwjwgr wrote

Eh, that's just arguing about semantics, using a different definition of "details" than the GP. And note that many of the details you see in the periphery, your brain simply reconstructs from having previously looked there (and indeed continuously and subconsciously moving your eyes in saccades, collecting a patchwork of detailed information for the brain to stitch into a whole), including colors. You'd be surprised how many of the colors you see in the periphery are entirely filled in by the brain.

From a survival perspective, our peripheral vision mostly needs to do one thing and it indeed does it well: detecting moving things. The moment there's unexpected motion detected, we instinctively shift our gaze there to take a better look with the foveal part of the retina.

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