Peripheral vision? It depends on the person
When someone is said to ‘have eyes even in the back of his head’ we are generally talking about a woman and most likely we are referring to the fact that her peripheral vision is so developed that it almost seems to allow a 360-degree view of the surrounding environment.
Under normal conditions, a person can move within a certain ‘field of vision’, i.e. the space on which the gaze rests at a certain moment. There is a central point and an area that develops around it: peripheral vision refers to what touches this most clearly visible scope. Thanks to it, it becomes possible to see people and objects in a sort of ‘enlarged field of vision’ (without necessarily having to move your head and turn your gaze) perceiving them both laterally and if they are below or above, even in low light situations.
It is therefore possible to distinguish and somehow see both shapes and colors as well as movements, which take place not only in front of our eye. Each of us has more or less developed visual abilities in this sense, but it is possible to say – thanks to a series of studies done by experts – that women have a much more developed peripheral vision than men. The latter, in any case and always to stay on the subject of differences between men and women’s views, ‘respond’ with a better ability to focus at a distance.
Men who can’t find things: a question of visual abilities
When we complain about the fact that men are unable to find things – especially keys, clothes and documents – despite having them (almost always) in front of their eyes, we must know that there is also a scientific explanation, which goes beyond the simple concept of laziness.
Among the most interesting curiosities seen, the one relating to the different peripheral vision between men and women is undoubtedly at the top of an ideal ranking. The explanation? It is anthropological and concerns certain social habits of Prehistory. We therefore have to go back a long way: many researchers believe that an explanation for the modern ability of humans to better focus on distant objects is a legacy of the ancient skill required by the activity of hunting (seeing far away, seeing prey and then taking aim). While as far as women are concerned, since prehistoric times they have always taken care of their children and the house, making sure that everything was in order: they have developed better peripheral vision to always have everything under control.
In particular, science believes that in women peripheral vision (therefore with a suboptimal focus) can ‘widen’ to almost 180 degrees, while they would see with precision up to 45 degrees from the center of the ‘standard’ field of vision. In the event that a visual defect or the onset of a disease interferes with vision (affecting the nerve processing that starts from the retina) a partial loss of the visual field may occur. If the latter is reduced too much, even if we cannot speak of blindness, a highly disabling condition is created.
