The visual system is said to be especially sensitive towards spatial but lesser so towards temporal information. To test this, in two experiments, we systematically reduced the acuity and contrast of a visual stimulus and examined the impact on spatial and temporal precision (and accuracy) in a manual interception task. In Experiment 1, we blurred a virtual, to-be-intercepted moving circle (ball). Participants were asked to indicate (i.e., finger tap) on a touchscreen where and when the virtual ball crossed a ground line. As a measure of spatial and temporal accuracy and precision, we analyzed the constant and variable errors, respectively. With increasing blur, the spatial and temporal variable error, as well as the spatial constant error increased, while the temporal constant error decreased. Because in the first experiment, blur was potentially confounded with contrast, in Experiment 2, we re-ran the experiment with one difference: instead of blur, we included five levels of contrast matched to the blur levels. We found no systematic effects of contrast. Our findings confirm that blurring vision decreases spatial precision and accuracy and that the effects were not mediated by concomitant changes in contrast. However, blurring vision also affected temporal precision and accuracy, thereby questioning the generalizability of the theoretical predictions to the applied interception task.

据说视觉系统对空间信息特别敏感，但对时间信息不太敏感。为了测试这一点，在两个实验中，我们系统地降低了视觉刺激的敏锐度和对比度，并检查了手动拦截任务中对空间和时间精度（和准确性）的影响。在实验 1 中，我们模糊了一个虚拟的、待截取的运动圆（球）。参与者被要求在触摸屏上指示（即，手指敲击）虚拟球何时何地越过地线。作为空间和时间准确性和精度的度量，我们分别分析了常数和可变误差。随着模糊的增加，空间和时间变量误差以及空间常数误差增加，而时间常数误差减小。因为在第一个实验中，模糊可能与对比度混淆，在实验 2 中，我们重新运行实验，但有一个区别：我们没有模糊，而是包含与模糊级别匹配的五个对比度级别。我们没有发现对比的系统性影响。我们的研究结果证实，视力模糊会降低空间精度和准确性，并且这些影响不是由伴随的对比度变化介导的。然而，模糊的视觉也影响了时间精度和准确性，从而质疑理论预测对应用拦截任务的普遍性。我们的研究结果证实，视力模糊会降低空间精度和准确性，并且这些影响不是由伴随的对比度变化介导的。然而，模糊的视觉也影响了时间精度和准确性，从而质疑理论预测对应用拦截任务的普遍性。我们的研究结果证实，视力模糊会降低空间精度和准确性，并且这些影响不是由伴随的对比度变化介导的。然而，模糊的视觉也影响了时间精度和准确性，从而质疑理论预测对应用拦截任务的普遍性。