Close vision is better because things look bigger, but also because the space around us is special

What is it about?

We used virtual reality and visual illusions to test shape recognition abilities at different depths. We have manipulated the size of objects presented farther away in order to make them appear bigger. Even when this was the case, closer ones were easier to discriminate. When we assessed the spatial distribution of this effect, we have found a sigmoidal pattern: the advantage was consistent in regions of space around the body; disadvantages were consistent far from the body; a region of space in between presented a gradual transition between benefits and costs. This pattern has been generally ascribed to a specialized neural and cognitive processing of the space closely surrounding the body, termed peripersonal space. Here we show that depth is a fundamental dimension of human visual abilities, visual processing in the close space being qualitatively better in light of this peripersonal-specific added value.

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Why is it important?

Depth is seldom taken into account in vision experiments and the neuroscience of perception. We have shown that, instead, this dimension should not be neglected. Peripersonal space has been studied extensively under a multisensory approach. Here we show that peripersonal space-related advantages are broader, and extend to the visual modality alone. This forces us to revise our understanding of this special region of space and to better appreciate its contribution to perception and cognition.

Perspectives