eli5: Why does peripheral vision work better for finding objects in the dark?
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Your eye has two types of light-sensitive cell. Cones, which allow color vision but are less sensitive, are concentrated in the center of your eye. Rods, which don’t help you tell color much but work well in low light, are around the edges. That means that your color vision is mostly in the center of your visual field and your low-light vision is mostly at the edges. The color you “see” in your peripheral vision is mostly thanks to your brain filling in the details, not true color vision.
And the eye probably evolved this way for efficiency and safety. You’re more sensitive to movement in low light in your peripheral vision, so can notice an enemy or a lion sneaking up on you at dusk, and more sensitive to detail in your central vision so you can recognize edible plants or the footprints of animals you are tracking.
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