Transcript Eye Color and Peripheral Vision

Eye Color and
Peripheral Vision
By: Emily Bohlen
Mr. Leingang’s
6th per. Science
Hypothesis:
As I changed the eye color from brown, to
blue, and to green then the person with
the brown eyes will have better peripheral
vision because people with darker eyes
have bigger pupils.
Question:
How does eye color affect peripheral
vision?
Background Information:
Does eye color affect peripheral vision? Our central vision is not the only type of
vision that we use everyday. We use our central vision to do a variety of things, like
read or talk to our friends. A lot of activities that we take part in do not occur directly
in front of us.
Peripheral vision is when you see out of the corner of your eye. It is important to
know our limits of peripheral vision, because we used it constantly throughout our
daily routines. We use it while driving, playing sports, and we even use it to relax.
The light-sensitive lining at the back of the eye, called the retina, is packed with
cells called rods and cones. These cells receive light. Cones are sensitive to color and
are mainly clustered in the center of the retina. Since there are few cones in the outer
region of the retina, it is very difficult to distinguish the color of an object out of the
corner of the eye.
Rods are more evenly spread in the retina, but there are also very few towards the
outer region of the retina. This makes it hard to determine the shape of an object out
of the corner of the eye.
Variables:
Manipulated Variable:
Color of eyes (Green, Blue, and Brown)
Responding Variable:
The person peripheral vision
Controlled Variable:
How far away the person is from the object
Where the person is standing
The shape of the objects
The color of the objects
Materials:
 Person with brown eyes
 Person with green eyes
 Person with blue eyes
 Yard Stick
 Ruler
 Pink star (about the size of a salad plate)
 Purple circle (about the size of a salad plate)
 Yellow triangle (about the size of a salad plate)
 Orange square ( about the size of a salad plate)
Procedure:
1. Set up; see diagram.
2. Starting with the person with brown eyes, have them look at you and point to
object #1 ask them to tell you what they see using their peripheral vision (shape
and color).
3. Record what person sees.
4. Repeat steps 2-3 with object #2-4 (right to left).
5. Bring in person with blue eyes. Repeat steps 1-4.
6. Bring in person with green eyes. Repeat steps 1-4.
7. Mix up objects so all objects are in different places.
8. Repeat with brown eyes, blue eyes, and green eyes.
9. Repeat steps 7-8 for third trial and record what person sees.(shape and color)
Objects:
-Pink Star
-Purple Circle
-Yellow Triangle -Orange Square
Abstract:
The purpose of this experiment is to determine whether eye color
affects peripheral vision or not. It is very important to know this
because our peripheral vision plays a very important role in our lives.
Peripheral vision allows us to do so many things such as playing
sports and drive. Some errors that I came across doing this
experiment was that I should have made more objects with
contrasting colors so the person eyes would not focus in on a certain
group of colors there would be a variety. Completing this project I
have learned that people with darker eyes have better peripheral
vision. What I could of done differently was test the people in a more
closed environment and not in a busy environment.
Conclusion:
I thought that if I changed the color of the eye I am testing
then the person with brown eyes would have better peripheral
vision. My results showed that I was correct. I can prove this
because the person with green eyes saw the color of the yellow
triangle but not the shape, saw the color of the orange square
but not the shape, saw the shape of the purple circle but not
the color, and didn’t see the shape or color of the pink star. Now
the person with the brown eyes had a different results she saw
the shape of the triangle but not the color, saw the shape and
the color of the orange square and the pink star, and saw the
color of the purple circle but not the shape. So eight objects the
person with brown eyes saw five and the person with green
eyes saw three. Therefore if I change the color of the eyes that I
am testing then the people with darker eyes or brown eyes will
see the most telling us that they have better peripheral vision.
Data Table:
Brown Eyes
Green Eyes
Blue Eyes
Objects
Saw color Saw Shape
Saw Color Saw Shape
Saw Color Saw Shape
Yellow Triangle
No
No
Yes
No
Yes
Yes
Orange Square
Yes
Yes
Yes
No
Yes
No
Purple Circle
Yes
No
No
Yes
No
No
Pink Star
Yes
Yes
No
No
Yes
No