The most important human organs are the eyes. The ability to see the world is provided by central (formal) and peripheral (peripheral, lateral) vision. The first allows you to recognize the details and shapes of objects. Divided into near and far. Peripheral vision is a function regulated by a special part of the retina that helps with orientation. With its help, a person distinguishes objects at dusk and at night. Peripheral vision is characterized by the field of view. This is the space perceived by a fixed gaze. Impaired peripheral vision is often the first symptom of serious pathologies. Deterioration in the perception of objects located on the sides is called hemianopia. Loss of function, even while maintaining central vision, makes it clear to a person what it is like to lose the ability to navigate in space.
Disease on initial stages practically not felt due to the peculiarities of pathophysiology. Often the disorder is diagnosed during a routine medical examination, causing shock in the patient. As the disease progresses, it becomes difficult for a person to read, watch TV, work at a computer, or navigate in space. The eyes begin to hurt more often, vision becomes less sharp, objects “float”.
The main causes of pathophysiological changes in peripheral vision are considered:
- mechanical damage to the retina (against the background of physical, sports loads, stressful situations, head injuries);
- glaucoma;
- cataract;
- stroke;
- atherosclerosis;
- vegetative-vascular dystonia;
- benign or malignant neoplasms;
- circulatory disorders;
- hypertension;
- osteochondrosis;
- diabetes mellitus;
- degenerative processes in the retina (detachment, thinning);
- vascular disorders;
- age (after 60 years).
After age 60, peripheral vision may deteriorate. This is a natural process.
Normal visual field values are considered to be: 55° from the inner and inner upper sides, 90° from the outer and outer lower sides, 70° from the upper outer side, 50° from the inner lower side, 65° from the lower side. Violation of indicators indicates diseases of the brain or eyes.
Reducing boundaries side view up to 5-10° is diagnosed as a concentric narrowing of the visual field. Without treatment, the disorder progresses to tunnel vision - pathologically limited opportunity see.
A change in a certain area of the visual field is considered local loss. The disorder can be unilateral (homonymous hemianopsia) - loss of left or right zones, and bilateral (heteronymous hemiapsia) - loss of opposite regions.
There is symmetrical and asymmetrical impairment of peripheral vision. Symmetric loss of the temporal halves of the visual fields is classified as bitemporal hemianopsia, symmetric loss of the nasal halves is binasal hemianopsia.
There is a loss of only a quarter of the visual field on both sides - homonymous square hemianopsia.
Scotomas
Scotomas are periodically diagnosed - localized areas deprived of visual function. Violations vary in shape (arc, circle, oval) and location (sectoral, pericentral, central, paracentral, peripheral).
Scotomas are divided into negative and positive. In the first option, the pathology is not felt by the person and is detected during special examinations. In the second case, the disorder is described by the patient as a cloudy spot or shadow in the field of vision.
With negative skontomas, a person does not feel any abnormalities in vision.
With an absolute scotoma, the ability to see in the affected area completely disappears. If the patient notes that objects become unclear, “blurry,” then the pathology is diagnosed as relative.
There is a physiological scotoma. The disorder has the appearance of an oval-shaped blind spot located in the temporal region of the visual field.
When the arteries of the brain spasm or the nerve roots are pinched, atrial scotomas can occur - reversible loss of local areas of the visual fields. Often the disorders are accompanied by nausea, vomiting, and headaches. With closed and open eyelids, a person is disturbed by flickering along the contour, glare lasting up to half an hour.
Diagnostic methods
Examination helps to clarify hemianopsia.
The simplest method for diagnosing narrowing of the visual fields is to compare it between the physician and the patient using the Donders method. The technique is used when in serious condition person (paralyzed, bedridden patient), small child, in the absence of the necessary digital devices in the medical institution. To perform the diagnosis, the specialist and the person being examined must, being at a distance of 1 m, turn to face each other. Everyone covers one eye. The patient looks into the doctor's open eye. And the specialist begins to slowly move his hand or a small table to the center of the field of view. The patient tells the doctor when he sees her.
Various methods are used to diagnose the cause and extent of peripheral vision impairment.
Perimetry and campimetry provide more accurate results. In the first case, the examination is performed using a device called a perimeter. The patient presses his chin against a special stand, closes one eye, and holds the bright dot in the center of the arc with the other. The object is directed from the sides to the periphery, and the person speaks of its appearance in the field of view.
Campimetry is performed using a large (2x2) screen. Its surface is illuminated. A person stands 2 m from the device model, closes one eye, and looks through the slit at the center of the dark screen with the other. The specialist moves a small square along it. The subject reports when he begins to see him. The test is performed several times in different directions.
To diagnose the type and cause of hemianopsia, the doctor may recommend performing a CT scan, carotid angiography, ultrasound of the brain and cervical spine, MRI, and a study of hemodynamics of the eye.
Treatment of the disease
For successful treatment of pathological changes, it is important to correctly identify and eliminate the factor that provoked its occurrence.
During pregnancy, deterioration in lateral vision may be a sign of preeclampsia, a condition that is life-threatening for the woman and child. It is important to normalize blood pressure by promptly seeking medical help.
With VSD, visual impairment often occurs against the background of hallucinations, loss of consciousness, loss of strength, headaches, dizziness, fear, and nausea. Lifestyle correction and the help of a psychotherapist are necessary.
For malignant neoplasms in the eyes or brain, the patient will need surgical intervention, chemotherapy, and radiotherapy.
Treatment depends on the underlying cause of the peripheral vision loss.
The results of injury and age-related changes in the retina are partially or completely corrected by surgery.
For neurological pathologies, medications (in the form of injections, tablets, drops), a restrictive diet (with the exception of caffeine-containing drinks), and vitamin and mineral complexes may be prescribed.
Traditional methods of treating the disease will not help eliminate the disease. Various infusions and decoctions of herbs will only slightly alleviate a person’s condition, softening the symptoms of the disease.
There are several computer techniques that can restore or improve a patient’s vision. With the help of special exercises and tasks, hemianopsia is partially or completely compensated, which makes it easier for a person to orient himself in space.
The result largely depends on the physiology of the disease that caused the narrowing of visual fields, the stage of the diagnosed disorder, the age of the patient, and the characteristics of therapeutic tactics.
Exercises to develop peripheral vision
To prevent disturbances in lateral vision, it is important to lead an active lifestyle, control your diet, avoid stress, and get enough sleep. All these habits increase the resistive capabilities of the body. You need to stop drinking alcohol and smoking, treat diseases in a timely manner, and regularly have your eyes checked by an ophthalmologist.
Workout, proper nutrition, an active lifestyle and a lack of stress are ways to avoid problems with peripheral vision.
Train lateral vision by performing special gymnastics:
- standing near the window opening and choosing an object on the street, you must, without making movements with your pupils, try to distinguish objects located on the sides;
- A vertical line must be drawn in the center of the page of the book selected for reading. Trying to look at the strip, you should try to read the horizontal words printed in the periphery area. This exercise perfectly develops speed reading skills;
- sit on a chair and lay out images with large symbols on the floor. It is necessary to lift them one by one, allowing them into the periphery zone. Gradually the viewing angle increases. Having mastered the exercise, a person begins training with smaller images;
- you need to select and hold a certain object in front of your eyes. Without looking away, you need to remember another object. Then add a new one. So you need to fix 7-9 objects. Exercise promotes the rapid development of peripheral vision.
Lightly massage the eyelids with your thumbs for a minute, rotating eyeballs left and right, frequent flashing helps improve microcirculation.
Developed lateral visibility is important for representatives of many professions: drivers, seamstresses, athletes, military personnel.
Normal peripheral vision allows you to lead a full life. When the first symptoms of the disorder appear, you must consult a specialist, undergo a comprehensive examination and begin treatment for the cause of the disease. Timely therapy will help avoid serious complications and deterioration in quality of life.
Oct 25, 2017 Anastasia Tabalina
Not many people know what peripheral vision is. The periphery is the outskirts, the outer part of something, opposed to the center. That is, saying in simple words, peripheral vision can also be called lateral. Thanks to peripheral vision, people can perceive the outlines of objects, their shape, colors and brightness.
In some cases, disturbances in peripheral vision occur. Moreover, even if a person has excellent central vision. Therefore, from childhood it is very important to pay attention to exercises that help develop lateral gaze.
Interesting! The peripheral view has low resolution and only captures black and white shades. Among the fair sex, this ability to see is much more developed than among men. This means that women observe objects on the sides better.
Peripheral vision – visual perception, for which a certain area of the retina is responsible. It helps a person to coordinate in the surrounding world, to see in twilight and darkness. Lateral vision is the ability to perceive objects that are located to the sides of direct vision.
Features of spiciness lateral vision:
- Lateral visual acuity is less than central visual acuity.
- Side vision does not always have a certain level that is given to a person from birth. This perception can be trained and developed through some exercises.
- Peripheral vision is very important for some professions.
Impaired lateral vision indicates the development and presence of certain ophthalmological pathologies. Therefore, it is important to visit your doctor for an eye exam. The periphery of the retina is examined using a special device - a perimeter. The examination helps to identify diseases of the eyes and brain and determine a treatment regimen.
If peripheral vision disappears for some reason, even with normal central vision acuity, the person will not be able to move independently. He will simply bump into objects and will not be able to see large objects.
Scientists have proven that representatives of the stronger sex have a more developed central view, while women have a more developed peripheral view. This directly depends on the nature of the activities of women and men in ancient times.
Men hunted in ancient times. This activity required a clear concentration of attention on a specific object. Women had a different task - they looked after the home. In ancient times there were no doors or windows. Snakes and insects could get into the house without problems. Women noticed even the most inconspicuous changes. Over the centuries, the ability for men to see objects better with central vision, and for women with peripheral vision, has developed at the genetic level.
According to statistics, women are much less likely to be involved in side-impact accidents. And women get hit on the roads much less often precisely because of their developed peripheral vision. But unfortunately, there are also disadvantages for women. It is very difficult for ladies to park in parallel parking due to the undeveloped central gaze of men.
Visual impairment
The main task of peripheral vision is to orient a person in space.
If retinal injuries, brain diseases, or other factors occur, peripheral vision is significantly reduced. Moreover, such a pathology can affect either one eye or both at once. A person sees objects as if in a tunnel ().
Reasons why peripheral vision may decrease:
- Glaucoma. With this pathology, intraocular pressure increases significantly. As a result, the optic nerves are damaged and the field of vision narrows. At the initial stage, slight loss of the periphery is observed. If treatment is not done in a timely manner, the boundaries of vision are irreversibly narrowed. Advanced stages lead to an absolute narrowing of the field of view. This condition entails loss of vision without the possibility of recovery.
- Retinal damage. Occurs against the background of stressful situations, a jump in blood pressure, sudden physical activity, injuries and head injuries, some diseases. In such conditions, damage to the optic nerve is observed with all the ensuing consequences. Peripheral vision is impaired.
- Impaired blood circulation in the optic nerves and brain.
- Benign and malignant neoplasms.
- Traumatic brain injuries.
- Strokes.
- Detachment, stratification, dystrophy, degeneration of the retina.
- A significant decrease in lateral vision occurs after 60 years.
Is it possible to develop lateral vision?
It should be noted that visibility to the sides is not only possible, but also necessary to be developed. Why do you need training? First of all, this will help improve brain performance.
And of course, a person will be better oriented in space. Another positive aspect of developed peripheral vision is the skill of speed reading. Developed side visibility is important for motorists, people involved in professional sports, police officers, military personnel, and even teachers and educators. After all, children always need an “eye and an eye.” With the help of some exercises you can develop the ability to see to the sides. The workout will not take much time and should be done regularly.
- Fix your gaze on a specific object that should be in front of your eyes. Try to see objects without moving the pupils located on both sides of the main object.
- Take a felt-tip pen in your hands and select an object on the wall. He must be at least three meters away from the person. Then move the markers little by little in different directions. The image splits. You need to move the markers and continue to fix your gaze on the object.
- You will need images with large characters, these can be numbers and letters. Sit on a chair, place the images side by side, lift them one by one so that they are in the periphery. In this case, you need to try to distinguish what is depicted on them. Gradually increase the viewing angle. When a person can distinguish between images, you can move on to the next stage of training - draw smaller symbols and conduct classes.
- Fix the object in front of your eyes. Looking at it, select another object and fixate it with a side gaze. Then another object. The training should continue until the person is able to fix 7-9 objects. This exercise helps to improve your lateral vision very quickly.
- Walking on fresh air, try to concentrate attention on the flaws of the ground, while looking forward.
- Stand near the window and fix your gaze on an object that is located on the street, without moving your pupils, name the objects located near the chosen point.
- Open a book, choose a specific word and focus your attention on it. Try to read the words that are nearby.
- In a narrow newspaper column, draw a bright vertical line in the central part of the article. You need to look at the bright line. Try to read words that are in the peripheral field.
Diagnosis and treatment
Changes in peripheral vision are determined using specialized equipment. The person is asked to sit on a chair that is located at a distance of one meter from the ophthalmologist. One by one, the person closes his eyes. The doctor moves an object until the person being examined sees it.
The study is also carried out using a perimeter (specialized equipment):
- During an examination on this equipment, a person is asked to fixate with his eyes a small pendulum in the central part of the equipment.
- The side view will be determined by the luminous pendulums, which are located in different areas of the view. This takes into account the number of dots and brightness.
- After computer processing, the doctor receives results that determine the severity and quality of peripheral vision.
There is no such thing as “treatment of lateral vision,” because the disorder is not an independent pathology and occurs only against the background of any secondary diseases.
Moreover, violations are very often detected during an appointment with a neurologist. The main thing is to timely identify the reason why the changes occurred and prescribe adequate treatment. If therapy is performed in a timely manner, lateral vision will be restored. Exercises will also help with this.
Peripheral vision is one of the components of the visual apparatus, which extends beyond the boundaries of the field of view when projecting them onto a spherical surface. In this case, the field of view represents a certain space that is perceived only in a stationary state. The visual field is one of the functions of the peripheral parts of the retina, which determines a person’s ability to easily navigate in space.
The main indicator of peripheral vision productivity is a person’s viewing angle.
As for the visual field indicator, it has specific values that are determined by the border of the retina. So, for example, on white the eye is only at an angle of 90º - from the outside of the retina, 70º - from the top to the outside, 55º - from the top to the inside, 55º - from the inside, 50º - from the bottom to the inside, 65º - from the bottom, 90º - down from the outside.
The “blind spot” is one of these physiological scotomas, which is located in the temporal field of vision. Along with physiological scotomas, there are also angioscotomas (ribbon-like “prolapses” arising from enlarged retinal vessels covering photoreceptor cells), but they only slightly impair peripheral vision and are considered normal.
Those areas that fall out of sight are called “scotomata”.
Scotomas are divided into three types:
- positive;
- negative;
- flickering.
Positive scotomas appear independently as black spots in the field of vision. They are the first sign of retinal damage. Negative scotomas can only be identified through examination. The cause of such scotomas is damage to the pathways.
Atrial scotomas appear spontaneously. They mainly occur due to spasms of cerebral vessels. If, after closing your eyes, a person sees zigzag colored lines outside of your peripheral vision, experts recommend immediately starting to take antispasmodic drugs.
List of problems that contribute to the deterioration of peripheral vision
The following vision problems contribute to deterioration of peripheral vision:
1. Initial stages of tumors and inflammation. With such diseases, ¼ of the visual field may disappear.
2. Various pathologies of the retina. Depending on this, vision may deteriorate in different areas. For example, glaucoma causes a narrowing of the field of vision in the nasal area.
3. Nerve damage and retinal dystrophy. This problem leads to a narrowing of the field of view on all sides by 5-10º, a phenomenon called concentric narrowing of the field of view. With this disease, a person can see and, but completely loses the ability to independently navigate in space.
In any case, if there is even the slightest hint of deterioration in peripheral vision, you should seek advice from specialists. After conducting the necessary examinations, they will make the correct diagnosis and help you preserve your vision.
Most of you learned about toolless lie detection thanks to the TV series Lie to Me, then someone read the book, or maybe Paul Ekman's books, perhaps read Joe Navarro or Allan Pease and thought that with a little practice, you would be able to “see right through people.” Most did not even imagine the existence of graphology, operational psychodiagnostics, cold and hot reading, and the craniofacial profile. Even if they knew, they did not assume that all this was used to detect lies. Someone knew the formula of neobehaviorism, but did not know that it is also used in profiling. Knowledge of facial expressions alone is not enough to quickly see the whole picture as a whole. Has anyone heard of Schulte tables? But the skill they develop is fundamental for tracking facial actions.
Schulte tables are tables in which certain information is randomly placed in the cells, often sequential numbers. In its most standard design, it is a one-color square table of 25 cells with randomly scattered numbers. Task: find all the numbers in order in the maximum possible time short time. When performed correctly and regularly, the pace of information perception develops and peripheral vision expands. The development of which determines: will you see the tension in the jaw (jaw) of your interlocutor or will you miss it because you are looking into his eyes?
But as in gym, if they give you a barbell and you roll it on the floor with your feet, you yourself understand that it won’t be of much use. In order to perform the exercise correctly, and therefore find all the numbers faster, you need to focus on the central cell of the table so that you can see the entire table. You will achieve the greatest results if during training you completely lack horizontal and vertical eye movements. This is difficult and, of course, at first you may have difficulty performing it, but with each training your skill will grow and difficulties will disappear. The main thing is stable training; It is enough to devote 15-20 minutes a day to the tables. After two to three weeks of practice, you will probably feel that these tables are too simple for you. Then try stacked options; two-color, multi-color, asymmetrical, etc.
Do not exaggerate your knowledge and skills. Yes, of course, in some simple moments everyday life The knowledge that you received from TV series and popular science literature will help you, for example, to understand that your child was lying when he said that they didn’t ask anything. But in order to consider yourself at least a novice specialist, you need to devote more than one year to studying all aspects of science and another more than one year to practice skills. It’s not for nothing that they say: “Live forever, learn forever, but you’ll die a fool.”
Find out more about how to develop your cognitive skills and improve mental abilities you can from the site materials posted in .
It is also useful to practice the same exercise not with letters, especially if the eye is already accustomed to numbers. You can read more about this exercise in a separate article Searching for letters.
Schulte tables
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Game "Mathematical Comparisons"
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Game "Find a Pair"
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Game "Piggy Bank"
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Bottom line
In this article I talked about peripheral vision, how to train it, analyzed exercises for training peripheral vision and told how to train it most effectively. I wish you good luck in mastering the skill of speed reading and development of peripheral vision!