Why is it that I am not able to read a book without moving my eyes if the entirety of the page is within my field of view? Why do I have to center my eyes on an object to observe it fully? And why is it that I am still able to view changes in surroundings in the edges of my field of vision despite there being supposedly no way to focus on them from that angle?
Is it due to our brain’s capacity to absorb a finite amount of visual information at a given moment or is it a physical flaw in the structure of our eyes?
A) Brain. You can train yourself to use more of your whole field, but you’ll lose that attentional “spotlight” that you normally aim at things and picks out all the detail.
If you’re ever scanning something like a thick tree, looking for something, hold your arms out and form your fingers into a square frame. Use this to further focus your attention, and scan the tree in a more methodical way by moving the finger frame. You are more likely to find the thing you are looking for this way.