Averted vision and monitor hz

[The549]

I noticed that when i lay a cd upside down on front of my moniter (60hz) and looked at the moniter, the light reflected from the monitor to the cd flickers. Ie, using averterted vision, my monitor flickers. Is this becuase there are less cones in the eye when not starring directly at the object? And does anyone know why that would make a difference as far as detecting the frequency of a screen?
I'm sure someone around here would know...

 

[Vadi]

I'd guess that has something to do with the crystals in the display. The light get's polarized differently as it passes through the crystals and therefore it flickers.

 

[Guden Oden]

It is a rather well-known phenomenon that computer displays flicker more when watched through the corner of the eye rather than straight on. This is especially obvious if you're also tired when conducting the experiment.

Why this is the case I can only speculate, but it doesn't seem completely unreasonable it indeed has something to do with the density of light-sensitive cells in that area of the eye. Vision updates is slower when a person is tired I think I read, so that would fit as well.

Anyway, here is a neat/weird trick I discovered a while back:

Take a hi-res image and sample it down to say 64*64 pixels. Then stick both images in a folder and start a picture viewing program and set it up so it blows up images to screen size, and lets you flip rapidly between pictures.

See how the image appears to "fade" from high-detail to low detail when you switch back and forth, even though the switch itself is instantaneous!

 

[Bolloxoid]

Input from peripheral vision is mostly processed in the magnocellular pathway of the visual system which has better temporal resolution.

 

[Fruitfrenzy]

I would have thought from an evolutionary point of view it is advantageous to be sensitive to movement in the periphery of your vision to spot potential predators or prey.

In the centre of your field of view being able to distinguish shapes etc (spatial resolution) is more important.