specifically have a read of this page...
http://www.navaching.com/hawkeen/nwalk.html#Anchor-The-59125 quote:
From our reading we discovered that in low light, peripheral vision is far superior to central or focused vision. Night vision relies almost entirely on the rod cell receptors of the peripheral region of the retina, which because of their neural connections and physical makeup are very sensitive to light.
Seems to be in agreement with what you are saying.
As for vision being a part of preconscious processing... Yes I agree with that... I did come across some research that seemed to show that vision is part of preconscious processing. However the article gave me the impression that this evidence is considered inconclusive.
Alex
