PERIPHERAL TARGET RECOGNITION AND VISUAL-FIELD NARROWING IN AVIATORS AND NONAVIATORS

In the two experiments that examined recognition accuracy in the near visual periphery as a function of foveal cognitive load, aviators were shown to have larger effective functional visual fields than nonaviat ors. The aviators appeared to be far less susceptible to the visual fi eld narrowing found in nonaviators. The narrowing found in nonaviators suggested a tunnel-vision-like pattern. The rather small effect of lo ad increases on aviator performance was likely due to specialized trai ning and experience. Student aviators who averaged only 70 flight hr w ere clearly superior to nonaviators on peripheral recognition with a c oncomitant foveal task.