I've noticed that the human eye tends to be able to notice fast movement better from the peripherals.
Examples:
-Can only see a monitor with a low refresh rate flickering if not looking directly at it.
-Seem to be able to notice fast moving objects better from the 'corner' of the eye.
It would seem to make a lot of sense for it to be that way, giving better reaction to fast events from the side would be of advantage to many animals, including humans.
And perhaps the higher accuracy of straight-ahead vision means a 'slower,' more thorough vision is required in that region?
Am I just imagining this, or has this already been figured out?
Your eyes see the flickering even when you're sitting in front of it, but your brain filters it out like you are walking through a forest in the evening. It doesn't do that when it's in the corners of your eye because you were looking at it if it was important so there's no need to calculate the smoothing which takes a lot of calories, of which you need more food, which is a disadvantage in the wild where food is scarce. A bit of a long sentence, but I hope it answered your question. 
The activity in the brain btw also is the reason why people get headache when they look at a screen too long. Also the reason why a higher frequency of the image makes it less since the brain have to process a bit less intensive. can we control our brain not to filter it?
Not really as far as I know (visceral nervous system), but we can overload the system. That's what we do when we look at a optical illusion like this:
http://www.urgle.com/%7Emike/optical/Optical-illusion-wheels-circles-rotating.png | 8166UY wrote: |
Your eyes see the flickering even when you're sitting in front of it, but your brain filters it out like you are walking through a forest in the evening. It doesn't do that when it's in the corners of your eye because you were looking at it if it was important so there's no need to calculate the smoothing which takes a lot of calories, of which you need more food, which is a disadvantage in the wild where food is scarce. A bit of a long sentence, but I hope it answered your question.
The activity in the brain btw also is the reason why people get headache when they look at a screen too long. Also the reason why a higher frequency of the image makes it less since the brain have to process a bit less intensive. |
Wow, I've thought about this too, and all of what you've said is right on the number. Like magic-eye stereograms:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stereogram
I think that its more a defence mechanism, You are more prone to be looking straight ahead so when something moves in your peripheral vision you pick it up faster and more dynamically because it is the larger threat than the thing in front of you. It makes you more aware of your surroundings, Notice when scared or threatened the adrenelin flows through your body and you become more conscience of the things in your peripherals?
Place yourself in a house on your own, you hear a noise down the hall, as you walk to check out your automatic body stance:
Half crouched - Ready to attack or run
Turned slightly to the left/right - Protecting your dominate side
Head half turned towards noise - Increases hearing.
Eyes facing the direction your body is facing - Placing where you came from and the threat your going to in direct line of your peripheral vision.
Nostrals flare up - increases sence of smell
Hair stands on end - Nerves shut down and focus on adrenal glan - makes adrenelin and makes pain unnoticealble due to lack of nerve.
Its all primarial instinct made to defend ourselves.
Well, at our study they say differently. It were a neuroligist and a genetical researcher who together study stuff like that. 
I've been thinking about peripheral vision quite a bit lately, to the extent of observing it, and I wonder whether peripheral vision can sometimes be better because our focus is not on it, our mind is out of the way. Usually when we look at something, we are thinking about it at the same time, so this crowding of thoughts may be in our way, whereas with peripheral vision there is no thought interference at all.
Yes, your peripheral vision is better at different tasks than your central vision, or foveal vision. This is because of the difference in the amount of rods and cones. Rods are more sensitive to light, but don't register color. Your peripheral vision has more rods, making it sensitive to flickering and movement, especially at night.
There is definitely a great deal of evidence to support your observations. What you are noticing is in fact very normal.
Although our peripheral vision is not very precise (you can read out the corner of your eye), it is very attuned to light, contrast, and movement. This was probably an evolutionary advantage, for it allowed us to detect predators sneaking up from our side, and turn our head to double check for such dangers. Without this ability, humans might not be around because we would've been too easy to sneak up on.
Having that said, sight can be very deceiving. I'm sure you've had the experience where you think you see something move out of the corner of your eye, but in actuality, nothing shifted at all. Our brains are wired to try and recognize patterns of light and color (that's the only way we understand out surround), however it can some time try too hard and create an illusion of something when there actually isn't. That's actually how optical illusions work.
