Scientists have discovered that the ability to predict visually-guided movements is crucial to catching moving objects, through a study involving primates catching crickets. Utilizing high-speed cameras and AI, they established an 80-millisecond delay in visuomotor behavior, underlining the importance of predictive abilities in these actions, a finding that could help in understanding and treating neurological disorders.
suggests that our capacity to predict visually perceived motion plays a significant role in our capability to make a great catch—or grab a moving object. “Understanding how natural behaviors work will give us better insight into what is going awry in an array of neurological disorders.” Researchers found an 80-millisecond delay in the animal’s visuomotor behavior—the moment when vision and movement click and work together to direct the hand toward the target. Despite this measurable delay, the primates still grabbed the crickets, meaning that they had to predict the cricket’s movement. Using data from both the primates and the crickets the researchers were able to build a detailed model of vision-guided reaching behavior.