Which of the following is NOT a visual performance effect of survival stress?

Which of the following is NOT a visual performance effect of survival stress?

• A. Tunnel vision
• B. Loss of night vision
• C. Glare sensitivity
• D. Loss of depth perception

Answer: (C)

Under survival stress, the body’s fight-or-flight response sharpens focus on immediate threats, which alters how vision functions in practical, on-the-spot ways. The field of view tends to narrow, so you experience tunnel vision where peripheral sight is reduced and attention locks onto what’s directly ahead. This gives you a quicker, more centralized view of the threat but at the cost of situational awareness to the sides. Night vision can also suffer under stress. Rapid shifts from bright to darker environments, along with physiological arousal, can impair the retina’s adaptation to low light, making it harder to see in darkness when you need to respond quickly. Depth perception is affected as well. High alertness and rapid movement change how you process depth cues, and you may have a harder time judging distance and relative positions, which is critical when moving through or reacting to a dynamic scene. Glare sensitivity, while it can impact vision in bright conditions, isn’t typically listed as a direct visual performance effect of survival stress. The stress response more consistently produces tunnel vision, impaired night vision, and altered depth perception, rather than a specific increase in glare sensitivity.

Under survival stress, the body’s fight-or-flight response sharpens focus on immediate threats, which alters how vision functions in practical, on-the-spot ways. The field of view tends to narrow, so you experience tunnel vision where peripheral sight is reduced and attention locks onto what’s directly ahead. This gives you a quicker, more centralized view of the threat but at the cost of situational awareness to the sides.

Night vision can also suffer under stress. Rapid shifts from bright to darker environments, along with physiological arousal, can impair the retina’s adaptation to low light, making it harder to see in darkness when you need to respond quickly.

Depth perception is affected as well. High alertness and rapid movement change how you process depth cues, and you may have a harder time judging distance and relative positions, which is critical when moving through or reacting to a dynamic scene.

Glare sensitivity, while it can impact vision in bright conditions, isn’t typically listed as a direct visual performance effect of survival stress. The stress response more consistently produces tunnel vision, impaired night vision, and altered depth perception, rather than a specific increase in glare sensitivity.