Stimulus Determinants of Dynamic Visual Acuity. II. Effects of Limiting the Target Surround.

The nature and basis of age-related changes in dynamic visual acuity.

“…Also readily apparent was the highly significant luminance effect, F (1, 22) = 56.50, p < .00001, with vastly improved performance at the high luminance level. There was also a significant Luminance × Velocity interaction, F (3, 66) = 3.98, p < .01, which corroborates previous findings that the beneficial effect of luminance on DVA is proportionally greater for higher angular velocities than for lower ones (Burg & Hulbert, 1961; Goodson & Morrison, 1980; Miller & Ludvigh, 1962; T. R. Morrison, 1980).…”

“…DVA performance rather than eye movement monitoring is the measure of interest in this work because it is difficult to translate directly from eye movement data to behavioral performance. As reviewers of this literature have noted over the years (e.g., Goodson & Morrison, 1980), successful DVA trials cannot be distinguished from unsuccessful DVA trials on the basis of eye movement records. Consider, too, that near-perfect pursuit gain has been reported under some conditions for target speeds as great as 100 deg/s (Meyer, Lasker, & Robinson, 1985), even though dozens of investigators have reported that DVA begins to decline at velocities well below this value, typically between 30 and 60 deg/s (e.g., Burg, 1966; Burg & Hulbert, 1961; Goodson & Morrison, 1980; Ludvigh & Miller, 1958; Reading, 1972).…”

“…As reviewers of this literature have noted over the years (e.g., Goodson & Morrison, 1980), successful DVA trials cannot be distinguished from unsuccessful DVA trials on the basis of eye movement records. Consider, too, that near-perfect pursuit gain has been reported under some conditions for target speeds as great as 100 deg/s (Meyer, Lasker, & Robinson, 1985), even though dozens of investigators have reported that DVA begins to decline at velocities well below this value, typically between 30 and 60 deg/s (e.g., Burg, 1966; Burg & Hulbert, 1961; Goodson & Morrison, 1980; Ludvigh & Miller, 1958; Reading, 1972). Given that DVA depends on the final efficiency of the entire optic and oculomotor system, it is probably not surprising that the relationship between a single (although critical) component of the ability and ultimate performance is less than perfect.…”