When I started riding and I heard about target fixation and how devastating it can be (and it was!), no one ever told me how to overcome it or train your brain to overcome it.
Til this day I haven't seen any article or anyone talk about how to overcome target fixation; everyone just says "LOOK AWAY!" Well yea, try telling that to a newb who's panicking.
After reading and researching long and hard, I've come across two exercises that will help in overcoming target fixation and maximizing our already inadequate peripheral vision.
Overcoming Target Fixation
We as humans target fixate all the time. We do it when we don't even realize we're doing it and with that, how can humans jump on a bike and just tell themselves not to look? It's impossible.
While driving, I realize I target fixate the most. You do it to but probably don't realize it because you're in a cage. You'll see a hot chick on the side walk and look at her as you pass by, a blown up tire on the shoulder, an indented guard rail from an accident in the past, rubber necking while staring at an accident (biggest one!) or checking out that sexy chopper as you pass through the intersection (I saw a blue one this morning on the way to work.)
Like everything in life, in order to overcome something or get better at it, we need repetition and practice. This exercise is simple and will train our brain to look away automatically when we target fixate. I find that after a couple of weeks of riding/driving and looking away the moment I concentrate on something too long, my brain has started doing it on it's own and I don't have to think about looking away anymore.
The simple, yet effective exercise is when you target fixate in your car or on the bike, look away immediately, do it every time no matter how hot that girl is or how bad that accident looks. After a couple of weeks you'll learn that your eyes will automatically move away when they stay focused on something. Imagine that.. not having to think to look away when you're coming into a corner too fast and are caught staring at the guard rail!
Maximizing Your Peripheral Vision
For those that don't know, peripheral vision is our vision outside of our focus. Our peripheral vision sucks compared to animals because both of our eyes are facing forward whereas most animals have eyes on the sides or angled on their faces.
Since I was a little kid, I always did this for fun.. I don't know why I did it or who told me about it but I would sit for a while and just play this game. I later found out that this is really an exercise used to extend our peripheral vision and is used to help kids with A.D.D. to focus.
You pick a comfortable spot in your house, a couch, a chair, bean bag.. whatever you want. We'll use sitting on the couch in front of the fire place in the family room as an example.
You want to focus on a small object (could be anything, a corner, a pin, something insignificant) on the farthest side of the room. You want to focus on something far as this will help exercise all three areas of our p-vision. Far-peripheral vision is what we see on the edges of our field of view. An example would be like while we're walking beside someone, you can see them in the corner of your eye. This is what you want to exercise the most! On the road it would be like the car beside you. Mid-peripheral vision is obviously the mid range of our field of view. This would be a car waiting to make a left turn as you approach the intersection about 30' away. Last is our near-peripheral vision which is closest to our centre of focus.
So you're sitting on the couch staring at the motion detector. Don't take your focus off the motion detector but try to notice and identify everything else around you.. most importantly all the objects in your far-peripheral vision field of view. Don't concentrate too hard at first as you'll cause your eyes to strain and might even get headaches.
Once you've tried to identify all the objects in your far-p-vision, take your focus off the motion detector and look around with your eyes to all the areas of your far-peripheral vision. You'll be amazed at some of the objects that you didn't even see!! Now put your focus back to the motion detector and look for the objects that you completely missed. You'll now be able to see them in your peripheral vision.
Do this exercise for about 5 minutes a day and you'll see cars coming up from beside you that you never saw before.
Til this day I haven't seen any article or anyone talk about how to overcome target fixation; everyone just says "LOOK AWAY!" Well yea, try telling that to a newb who's panicking.
After reading and researching long and hard, I've come across two exercises that will help in overcoming target fixation and maximizing our already inadequate peripheral vision.
Overcoming Target Fixation
We as humans target fixate all the time. We do it when we don't even realize we're doing it and with that, how can humans jump on a bike and just tell themselves not to look? It's impossible.
While driving, I realize I target fixate the most. You do it to but probably don't realize it because you're in a cage. You'll see a hot chick on the side walk and look at her as you pass by, a blown up tire on the shoulder, an indented guard rail from an accident in the past, rubber necking while staring at an accident (biggest one!) or checking out that sexy chopper as you pass through the intersection (I saw a blue one this morning on the way to work.)
Like everything in life, in order to overcome something or get better at it, we need repetition and practice. This exercise is simple and will train our brain to look away automatically when we target fixate. I find that after a couple of weeks of riding/driving and looking away the moment I concentrate on something too long, my brain has started doing it on it's own and I don't have to think about looking away anymore.
The simple, yet effective exercise is when you target fixate in your car or on the bike, look away immediately, do it every time no matter how hot that girl is or how bad that accident looks. After a couple of weeks you'll learn that your eyes will automatically move away when they stay focused on something. Imagine that.. not having to think to look away when you're coming into a corner too fast and are caught staring at the guard rail!
Maximizing Your Peripheral Vision
For those that don't know, peripheral vision is our vision outside of our focus. Our peripheral vision sucks compared to animals because both of our eyes are facing forward whereas most animals have eyes on the sides or angled on their faces.
Since I was a little kid, I always did this for fun.. I don't know why I did it or who told me about it but I would sit for a while and just play this game. I later found out that this is really an exercise used to extend our peripheral vision and is used to help kids with A.D.D. to focus.
You pick a comfortable spot in your house, a couch, a chair, bean bag.. whatever you want. We'll use sitting on the couch in front of the fire place in the family room as an example.
You want to focus on a small object (could be anything, a corner, a pin, something insignificant) on the farthest side of the room. You want to focus on something far as this will help exercise all three areas of our p-vision. Far-peripheral vision is what we see on the edges of our field of view. An example would be like while we're walking beside someone, you can see them in the corner of your eye. This is what you want to exercise the most! On the road it would be like the car beside you. Mid-peripheral vision is obviously the mid range of our field of view. This would be a car waiting to make a left turn as you approach the intersection about 30' away. Last is our near-peripheral vision which is closest to our centre of focus.
So you're sitting on the couch staring at the motion detector. Don't take your focus off the motion detector but try to notice and identify everything else around you.. most importantly all the objects in your far-peripheral vision field of view. Don't concentrate too hard at first as you'll cause your eyes to strain and might even get headaches.
Once you've tried to identify all the objects in your far-p-vision, take your focus off the motion detector and look around with your eyes to all the areas of your far-peripheral vision. You'll be amazed at some of the objects that you didn't even see!! Now put your focus back to the motion detector and look for the objects that you completely missed. You'll now be able to see them in your peripheral vision.
Do this exercise for about 5 minutes a day and you'll see cars coming up from beside you that you never saw before.
