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Tunnel vision vs target fixation

7K views 25 replies 11 participants last post by  Rich 
#1 ·
Are tunnel vision and target fixation different? How would you describe the differences and what can you do to prevent them from happening?
 
#2 ·
Good question!

Yes, they're different. At least to me.

Tunnel vision: Person's vision scan area is narrow, one does not scan far ahead and the surroundings. Example: rider fails to scan on-ramp for cars merging into a highway. A car that's merging does not see the rider (he is in cool all black helmet, leather, and bike). The rider has a very close call that could have been avoided easily. (true story)

Target fixation: Person is fixated on a certain target. Some examples:

1- A rider is fixated on a dime piece with a golden ratio of hips to waist. Which causes the rider to rear-end the rider in front of him. (true story)

2- A rider goes into a corner too hot, instead of focusing on looking through the corner and leaning, the rider is fixated looking at the ditch, where the rider ends up. (true story)
 
#4 ·
Tunnel vision can also mean you're not aware of things around you. Just looking straight ahead and not scanning to the sides and checking behind you on the street when in traffic. Using mirror is a massive apart of riding in traffic.

Fixation is coming into a corner, realising you are going to fast and not going to make the corner. You are approaching the dirt on the side of the road. All you focus on is the dirt or the tree you are about to hit. This happens due to lack of experience and panic. An experienced rider just slows up and straightens if its needed and keeps looking through the corner. The panic does not set in because they have experience and are confident with this situation. Some need training courses to work out what the bike does and how it works and what you need to do in this situation. Others deal with it naturally. I rode motocross since I was a kid so riding on the road comes easily to me. If things get loose and out of shape I'm quite at home as I'm use to riding dirt bikes.
 
#5 ·
When riding a bike, you go where you look. That is why safety classes teach you to look as far into a turn as possible. If you are looking at the guy who just went off road in front of you, then you are subconsciously going to follow. That is target fixation. To put it differently; when you look in one direction and steer in the opposite, it feels unnatural. But, if you steer where you are looking, it feels very natural and you don't think about what you are actually doing. When you target fixate, you do what is more natural. You are going to steer more towards that object without realizing it.

I admit that I never heard of tunnel vision. Seems to be what everyone says after googling it. Sounds like it is when you only pay attention to things in your direct line of site, or lack peripheral vision. It doesn't sound like target fixation to me.

One deals with how you react and the other seems to deal with being oblivious to your surroundings.
 
#6 ·
I remember when I first started Land Speed Racing, I would get "tunnel vision" when going over speeds of 180 mph. I think your brain just gets overwhelmed from the visual stimulation of everything moving so quickly. You actually only see what is right in front of you. Now after a decade of racing, I don't get it any more even at speeds of 240.
 
#10 ·
Alright, so Tunnel vision = limited field of vision, as if you were only looking through a tunnel. Your situational awareness of what is going on around you is low and you may miss certain things or feel surprised by something that could have been avoided had you been able to see it coming.

Target fixation: Staring at one thing (usually something your mind considered to be dangerous) usually due to panic. The bike tends to go where you look so if you look at the tree that you don't want to hit you will more than likely hit the tree.

So, what are the remedies for each of these issues? Are they the same or are the fixes different for each situation?
 
#11 ·
I consciously make an effort to look where I want to go, particularly if I start feeling uncomfortable (sand/gravel on the apex, etc.). I hope at some point this becomes automatic, but so far I still need to remind myself. This is a partial solution for target fixation. I also make an effort to continually scan what is around me, including mirrors, just like when flying or driving.

In the car on the track I have learned to aim where the spinning car is right now and to not look at where it is going. Peripheral vision will inform me if it remains a threat.

None of these are remedies or tricks however and are actively conscious efforts. I am very interested in learning your suggestions. It is easy to fall into target fixation in particular when in an emergency or something novel arises.
 
#12 ·
Great question with some great answers.

As far as fixing it, the same principles can work. Constantly scanning your environment will keep you from getting tunnel vision and having target fixation. As you mentioned, the bike goes where you look.

When I took my driver's test for a car we had to do the same thing. During the slide portion of the test we would look to where we needed the car to go. Those who focused on the grass/walls slammed into it. Those that found a target in the direction that they wanted to go would correct the vehicle's slide to that direction until the vehicle regained traction and they were on their way.

During the motorcycle courses, it was the same thing. Those that focused on the ground would drop the bike. Those that looked in the direction they were going, through the corners, would successfully negotiate their turns. For example, when doing slow speed u-turns using your clutch's "friction zone", if you don't look at where you are going you either drop the bike or put your foot down. When we were teaching a class the other day, we had a girl focus on a butterfly. She crashed 10ft down into a dry creek bed... with everyone yelling to stop...
 
#16 ·
When I first took driving lessons at 16 years old the first thing my instructor said to me as I pulled out of the parking lot was, "you're a skier right?" He said that skiers were some of the only drivers who automatically shoulder checked because they are aware of their position on the mountain and of where other skiers are.

So people are mentioning that constantly scanning their environment is a way of reducing the likelihood of target fixation or tunnel vision and I agree with that but I want to point out a difference between constantly scanning around and kind of frantically hunting or darting your eyes around. Sometimes people take the idea of scanning too far and try to see everything and zoom their eyes around so much that they can't get a smooth flow of information coming in. So you want to scan to be able to see what is around you but is there a better way of fitting more visual information in and gathering visual information than scanning your eyes around quickly?

What if you were to be able to press your peripheral awareness outward, or even wider than where it normally is? Would that help?
 
#17 ·
Yes, I believe so, for two reasons.

First, wider peripheral awareness is always of benefit when hurdling through space.

Second, the more one is accustomed to a greater sense of what is going on around you in an emergency or stressful situation you may retain a greater sense of awareness than you might otherwise.

Do you have any specific suggestions on how to help avoid target fixation when the object upon one is fixated is perceived as a threat, such as gravel at the apex, a sudden animal, etc.? How do we maintain awareness of the threat, but look for escape routes and not follow our vision straight into the threat?
 
#19 ·
Exactly. So here is why. With a wider area of visual awareness your sense of speed slows down so there is less chance that your "survival reactions" or fear will create panic. More space = more time and more time gives you more confidence.

The challenge is HOW. First of all it begins with an overall awareness of the fact that you may be riding in a tunnel or that you are less overall aware than you could be.

When I was racing at Barber for example I was having a hard time carrying corner speed through turn one. My fellow CSS coach asked me about my wide view and I said, "for sure I have a wide view." He pressed further asking me how wide I was looking. Could I see one edge of the track to the other, could I see the checkered flag station at the side of the track?" to which I replied, "what flag station?" Turned out I was only seeing a small part of the track, I didn't even notice the flag station, my vision was narrowed so my sense of speed felt high and I was slowing down too much. As soon as I was able to widen my field of view, I gained confidence and carried more corner speed through turn one.

So, step one is to be aware of the fact you are riding with a narrow field of view and step two is to work on pressing it outwards by challenging yourself to see further to each side.

If you are track riding you could notice just how much track you are seeing, half the track? Three quarters? could you push that out to see edge to edge? Could you push it further to include the corner stations and some of the run off area? How does that help your riding?

In terms of how to prevent yourself from target fixating on something you perceive to be dangerous, it comes back to maintaining a wide view. If you are aware of when and where your vision starts to narrow you can begin to force it back wider. A wider field of view will help prevent you from target fixating and will help you be able to get back on track quicker if you do panic for a second and stare at something, you can force your eyes to look back to where you want to go while still keeping some peripheral awareness on what it is you don't want to hit.

Does that make sense?


You betcha! So how do I do that Misti?

I'm going to say that if I'm not able to process what I'm seeing in my peripheral vision it's because it's taking all of my cognitive ability to ride my line - in other words I'm going faster than my mind can keep up on those details off my line. Slowing down would help because I'd be spending less of my mental budget on my line and could afford to notice things in my "wide view."

I have a hard time on the track with the wide view skill. I'll miss flag signals over and over again because I'm in that tunnel. Other than slowing down, what can I do to help with that problem?

Target fixation, and it's antidote is a whole 'nuther thing :)
I think I answered your question above but I just want to touch on one thing. You mention slowing down as one option and to begin with I think that would help you work on maintaining a wider view. It's hard to learn a new skill when you are maxed out speed wise. But also, once you slow down and get better at maintaining a wider field of view, your overall sense of speed will slow down which means you will struggle less with using all your cognitive ability on that one skill and in turn be able to go faster.

There are other visual exercises you can do while riding/driving or just hanging out to strengthen this skill. Anyone have any experience with alternative exercises to help peripheral awareness?

Misti
 
#20 ·
Misti, your response makes good sense and I'll start practicing while driving - we just got a foot of snow so I will not be on a bike for a bit. :)

The sense of speed lessening with awareness is very true. I experience this when looking as far ahead as I can. Corners do not come upon you nearly as fast; you already know they are there.

What other exercises can you suggest? I deliberately work on peripheral vision when sitting still at home, especially since I live in the woods and there are a lot of neat critters to notice. Critter Vision is a helpful exercise. Others?
 
#22 ·
Critter vision, that is good :) Anything you can do to practice pushing your awareness out wider is good. When I'm driving I try to see more of what is going on on either side of me and I practice relaxing my eyes and noticing when they narrow down or get lazy.

When riding I try to spend some time ONLY working on widening my awareness and combining this with the no brakes exercise is very powerful because we all have a tendency to "safely brake" or over slow for corners when our vision narrows down.

There is an exercise at the Superbike School where we put little sticker stars on the face shield to the sides of your eyes where your peripheral vision starts. Students are then asked to ride around noticing when they lose sight of the stars and what it is like when they can ride around with the stars in peripheral view without putting attention on them. :grin2:

Thanks for the response Misti. Noticing and processing things in my peripheral vision is something that I struggle with as I mentioned above (like missing flag signals). I'd love to hear any thoughts you or anyone else has on building a better wide view.

If my other skills are still developing, could that be why I don't have much left to process peripheral cues? I only get a few track days a year so a few sessions are focused on getting reacclimated to the speed, braking and accelerating forces, and limits of traction. It takes a lot of my focus to do that. For that reason, I enjoy the way the school gets students out on the track at a reduced pace for the first session or two (one gear, no brakes). It's not until the 3rd or 4th session of the day that I feel like I can stay ahead mentally near the limits.

Thanks again for posing this question!
It's hard to work on too many things at a time so if you are concentrating on things like braking etc it could be taking your attention. But try thinking about it a little differently, instead of working specifically on Braking, Acceleration and traction limits, what if you worked on things like WIDE VIEW, Looking to the vanishing point and reference points....do you think that could help with cornering and braking?

What about drawing the race track? How might that help?

Misti
 
#26 ·
That's too much ninja stuff for me. I had PRK surgery to correct my vision back *cough* years ago when the military was first doing it, and now I don't trust my vision to not be playing games with me. My night vision is bad, so I need HID lights on anything I drive/ride (if I can afford it), and sometimes I see things in my peripheral that aren't there.
 
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