Localization of a peripheral patch: the role of blur and spatial frequency

Peripheral vision serves to direct our attention and fixation to objects of interest. This requires that the visual system be capable of accurately localizing peripherally presented targets having different spatial structures. The question we address is "to what extent does stimulus spatial structure influence the precision of peripheral localization?" To address this issue, we measured the precision of spatial localization (with reference to a foveal target) for a single Gaussian or Gabor patch briefly presented in the periphery. For both stimuli, we find that when the standard deviation of the stimulus envelope (SD) is less than 1/5 the stimulus eccentricity, localization thresholds are independent of SD and are approximately 1/50 of eccentricity. For larger values of SD, localization thresholds increase linearly with increasing SD, and are approximately 1/5 of SD. The results hold over a range of eccentricities (from 2.5 to 10 deg) and stimulus contrasts (from near detection threshold to 80%). In addition, for Gabor patches, the results are independent of frequency, phase and orientation of the carrier.