A critique of a paper with the aforementioned title by K.K. Niall, J.D. Reising, and E.L. Martin, published in this journal issue, is presented. The authors addressed a topic that has practical importance and that deserves further study. They raised interesting questions about distance estimates and extended results obtained with unaided vision to performance with night vision goggles (NVGs). The critique focuses on several aspects of the methods and interpretations of the results. It claims that without additional clarification and optical analyses, it is difficult to determine whether the authors' conclusions regarding distance type and visual angle are justified. It also acknowledges that absolute judgments are difficult to study because observers can use various strategies to calibrate responses or compensate for errors.
Abstract