Assessment of Visual Field Performance Asymmetries While Utilizing Aircraft Attitude Symbology

Two experiments were conducted to examine visual performance asymmetries when perceiving complex, meaningful visual stimuli, such as the Arc Segment Attitude Reference (ASAR). The ASAR symbology represents an aircraft’s attitude. Experiment 1 examined participants’ performance while recalling and reporting various attitudes of ASAR symbology and a Gabor patch, which were briefly presented in the peripheral visual field. Performance was assessed for coordinate and categorical judgments at various display locations. The results were consistent with the horizontal-vertical anisotropy literature, which implies that performance would be better for stimuli placed on the horizontal meridian as compared to stimuli placed on the vertical meridian. Experiment 2 assessed asymmetries for continuously presented stimuli. Participants performed a visual psychomotor task using stimuli in the center of a display while monitoring peripherally located ASAR or Gabor patches. The visual stimulus in the periphery was displayed constantly and observers could move their gaze on such stimuli. This experiment sought to understand if eye movement is paired better between a center task and the various peripheral locations. No performance differences were found among the different peripherally located stimulus placements, but eye tracking data suggested efficient visual processing for the horizontal meridian