Perceptual narrowing

Under conditions of narcosis, drunkenness, schizophrenia, anxiety and many other forms of stress, an apparent loss of peripheral vision may occur, accompanied by distortions of apparent size and distance. As a consequence there is a lack of attention to peripheral phenomena, or a redistribution of attention over the visual field. The term is also used metaphorically to describe the reduction in ability to take into account concerns which are considered peripheral to some central preoccupation which is a source of anxiety or stress.