[MUD-Dev] The MLI Project

[Travis Casey]

On Monday, 16 February 98, Caliban wrote:
> At 09:24 PM 2/16/98 +0000, coder at ibm.net wrote:
>>On 16/02/98 at 02:31 AM, Ling <K.L.Lo-94 at student.lboro.ac.uk> said:
>>
>>>If I want
>>>to act like a robot and 'trigger' on some movement/colour change, I stare
>>>off centre to the target.  This staring into nothing in particular, apart
>>>from less eyestrain, let's me switch off and flinch.  
>>
>>Bingo.  Its a common technique, and havily used by most heavy arcade
>>gamers.  

> And part of military combat training. When watching a doorway from cover,
> for example, we're taught to aim the weapon naturally at the door and then
> watch a spot about three feet from it. 

Which means that the game is realistic in that respect.  :-)

> I would think, however, what makes peripheral vision more noticeable is the
> lack of resolution. I can't read the word "Camel" on the cigarette pack
> next to my monitor, for example, nor can I read the keypad on the phone at
> the other side... but if either of them moved, I'd notice immediately.
> (This sometimes happens, since I have a cat in the house. And now that I
> think about it, I can see my cat lying on the floor out of the corner of my
> eye, but I have no idea which direction he's facing -- he's facing either
> the mirror or the door, but I can't tell which.)

Interesting side note -- our peripheral vision is in black and white
(and shades of grey, of course).  We normally don't notice because our
mind "fills in" the appropriate color for things which we know the
color of, and because if something attracts out attention, we normally
shift our head and/or eyes to look at it, bringing it into the area we
can see in color.

In fact, between our brains filling in and our normal rapid eye
motion, we usually never notice it -- so most people won't believe it
when you first tell them.  If you're doubtful, here's an experiment to
try:

  Take a standard deck of cards.  Look straight ahead of you, and,
  without looking, pick out a card at random.  Keeping the card out of
  your sight, move it around to where you're holding it at arm's
  length just outside of your peripheral vision.  Now, slowly move it
  in, keeping your eyes looking straight ahead.

  At first, you'll be able to see the card, but won't be able to make
  out what card it is.  As you bring it in farther, you'll be able to
  tell more about it -- for example, whether it's a face card or not.
  At some point, you'll start to see it in color -- and if it's a red
  card, you'll have an interesting sensation as you see the card turn
  red (I know it freaked me out the first time I did it!).  You'll
  find that you won't be able to tell exactly *which* card it is until
  it's surprisingly close to your center of vision.

  You'll want to try this until you get a red card -- believe me, it's
  truly amazing to see the card suddenly become colored.

  (This experiment is described in Daniel Dennett's wonderfully
  audacious book, _Consciousness Explained_.  I recommend it highly.)

--
       |\      _,,,---,,_        Travis S. Casey  <efindel at io.com>
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