![]() To identify which animals have this impressive power, Changizi and Shimojo studied 319 species across 17 mammalian orders. "As long as the separation between our eyes is wider than the width of the objects causing clutter, we can generally see through it." "Our binocular region is a kind of 'spotlight' shining through the clutter, allowing us to visually sweep out a cluttered region to recognize the objects beyond it," says Changizi. If you open both eyes, however, you can see through the pen to the world behind it. If you first close one eye, and then the other, you'll see that in each case the pen blocks your view. The binocular region is what makes X-ray vision possible.ĭemonstrating this X-ray ability is fairly simple: hold a pen vertically and look at something far beyond it. ![]() ![]() The size of this area, called the binocular region, grows larger as eyes become more forward facing. Changizi conducted the research in collaboration with Caltech professor of biology Shinsuke Shimojo.Īll animals can see at least parts of the world simultaneously with both eyes. So argues Mark Changizi, formerly a postdoctoral scholar at Caltech who is now an assistant professor of cognitive science at Rensselaer, in a new paper that appeared August 28 in the online issue of the Journal of Theoretical Biology. Because of their forward-facing eyes, these animals lose the ability to see behind themselves, but they gain a type of X-ray vision that maximizes their ability to see in leafy environments. These animals evolved in cluttered environments, such as forests or jungles. Humans, primates, and other large mammals like tigers, however, have eyes pointing in the same direction. These sideways-facing eyes give an animal panoramic vision-the ability to see in front and behind itself. Most animals-fish, insects, reptiles, birds, rabbits, and horses, for example-live in non-cluttered environments like fields or plains and have eyes located on either side of their head. Now, a new study by scientists at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in New York and the California Institute of Technology (Caltech) has uncovered a truly eye-opening advantage to binocular vision: the ability to see through things. PASADENA, Calif.- The advantage of using two eyes to see the world around us has long been associated solely with our capacity to see in three dimensions. Technology Transfer & Corporate Partnerships
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