What is the Difference Between Foveal and Peripheral Vision

The key difference between foveal and peripheral vision is that foveal vision is used to observe highly detailed objects, while peripheral vision is used to observe broad spatial scenes and large objects.

Vision is an extremely complex sense. It has two systems: foveal (central vision) and peripheral vision. Central vision is the system that helps to identify clarity and details in objects, whereas peripheral vision is the system that is important for motion processing and orientation. Both of these systems are crucial for helping people make sense of visual information and efficiently perform visual functions.

CONTENTS

1. Overview and Key Difference
2. What is Foveal Vision
3. What is Peripheral Vision
4. Similarities – Foveal and Peripheral Vision
5. Foveal vs. Peripheral Vision in Tabular Form
6. FAQ – Foveal and Peripheral Vision
7. Summary – Foveal vs. Peripheral Vision

What is Foveal Vision?

Foveal vision is the vision people use to see fine details in order to read, drive, and recognize faces. People rely on foveal vision for everyday tasks, watching movies, and scanning through the smartphone. Foveal vision relies on the retina, macula, and fovea. Conditions like diabetic retinopathy, age-related macular degeneration, macular holes, central serous chorioretinopathy, choroidal neovascular membranes, coloboma of the retina, etc., can cause foveal loss.

Amsler grid test, fundus photography, and optical coherence tomography (OCT) can be used to diagnose foveal vision. Furthermore, treatments for foveal vision loss may include surgery, implants, steroid injections, special glasses, or occupational therapy.

What is Peripheral Vision?

Peripheral vision is the vision useful for helping people detect their surroundings and alert people so they can focus their attention. Peripheral vision helps people in their daily activities, including walking, reading, driving, and playing sports like baseball. Peripheral vision relies on the non-foveal area of the retina. Peripheral vision loss can be due to conditions like glaucoma, retinitis pigmentosa, optic neuritis, optic nerve atrophy, compressive optic neuropathy, retinal detachment, etc.

Peripheral vision loss can be diagnosed through confrontation visual field tests, automated static perimetry tests, and kinetic visual field tests. Furthermore, treatment options for peripheral vision loss may include prescribed eye drops and surgery to repair damage inside the body that led to peripheral vision loss.

What are the Similarities Between Foveal and Peripheral Vision?

• Foveal vision and peripheral vision are extremely important two systems in normal vision.
• Both are important to help people make sense of and efficiently perform visual functions.
• Both can be lost due to different conditions.
• The loss of both can be diagnosed through eye examination.
• The loss of both can be treated through surgeries.

What is the Difference Between Foveal and Peripheral Vision?

Foveal vision is used to observe highly detailed objects, while peripheral vision is used to observe broad spatial scenes and large objects. Thus, this is the key difference between foveal vision and peripheral vision. Furthermore, foveal is high in acuity, while peripheral vision is poor in acuity.

The infographic below presents the differences between foveal vision and peripheral vision in tabular form for side-by-side comparison.

FAQ: Foveal and Peripheral Vision

Why is foveal vision so much more acute than peripheral vision?

Since the fovea has a high density of cone cells, it gives a greater visual acuity, enabling us to see fine details and perceive color more accurately.

What is the relationship between sight and vision?

Eyesight happens primarily in the eye, while vision happens in the brain.

What is the opposite of peripheral vision?

Central vision is the opposite of peripheral vision.

Summary – Foveal vs. Peripheral Vision

Vision helps people to see the world around them. People have vision thanks to several components within the eye and brain that work, such as the lens, retina, and optic nerve. Foveal vision and peripheral vision are extremely important two systems in normal vision. Foveal vision is used to observe highly detailed objects while peripheral vision is used to observe the broad spatial scene and large objects. Furthermore, foveal vision is high in acuity, whereas peripheral vision is poor in acuity. So, this summarizes the difference between foveal vision and peripheral vision.

Reference:

1. “Central Vision.” NewYork-Presbyterian.
2. “Peripheral Vision – An Overview.” ScienceDirect Topics.

Image Courtesy:

1. “A normal visual field (left eye)” By Community Eye Health (CC BY-NC 2.0 DEED) via Flickr
2. “Glaucomatous field defects in left eyes” By Community Eye Health (CC BY-NC 2.0 DEED) via Flickr