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I’m confused how we can do thing like playing sports if our brains are mashing reality this much. How does a batter hit a 90 mph pitch if his vision can be dela

I’m confused how we can do thing like playing sports if our brains are mashing reality this much. How does a batter hit a 90 mph pitch if his vision can be delayed by half a second?

deleted 4y ago
[deleted]
austinjp 4y ago
Prediction, operating at the limits of human ability in an extremely limited (but very impressive) application.
personjerry 4y ago
When you're focusing/tracking something your eyes do a different type of movement called smooth pursuit [0]. To see this in action, look around normally - notice your eyes move and then stop, taking in "still frames". Next, look at your finger and move your finger around. Notice that your eyes smoothly follow the finger around. When the batter is watching the ball, he is similarly tracking it. [0]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Smooth_pursuit https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Smooth_pursuit
- a_e_k 4y ago
  To help the batter track the ball, MLB stadiums also have a darker, solid-color region called the "batter's eye" behind the pitcher and center field [0]. It's also why pitchers can't wear white sleeves or use white gloves (e.g., Eddie Butler getting his sleeves cut off before he pitches [1]). [0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Batter%27s_eye https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Batter%27s_eye [1] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UR0nHFTWNnY https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UR0nHFTWNnY
fimdomeio 4y ago
If the batter is not looking at the ball at the moment it's leaving the hand I doubt he can hit the ball. Also as soon as the pitcher starts moving his body the brain probably starts creating all types of predictions of what will happen next.
JackFr 4y ago
He probably isn’t moving his eyes, at least not tracking the ball. Presumably his brain is using a basket of other tricks to let him know where the ball is going to be.
bena 4y ago
There's a range. Maybe his masking is less. Maybe his brain compensates in such ways that it makes it possible. Maybe he's not hitting the pitch, he's hitting where he believes the pitch is going to be. 90mph is 132 feet per second. The distance from the pitching mound to home plate is 60 feet, 6 inches. The ball will take under half a second to travel that distance. I think about 450ms. The actual swing takes about 150ms. That gives the batter about 300ms total to identify the pitch and decide to swing. They're basically watching the pitcher and determining where to swing based on the release. Once the bat is in motion, it's up to the baseball gods. That's why batting averages are so low. Even great batters are hitting the ball only about a third of the time.
danielheath 4y ago
You can estimate where the ball will pass based on how the pitcher moves their hands, before they have even released it (that's why people swing when you pretend to throw but don't release!)
davidmurdoch 4y ago
Maybe that's why it's so important to "focus on the ball"? Vision isn't retroactivity updated if your eyes aren't shifting.
kristov 4y ago
Maybe that's why you have to practice to be good at sports. I couldn't hit a 90 mph ball to save my life.

I’m confused how we can do thing like playing sports if our brains are mashing reality this much. How does a batter hit a 90 mph pitch if his vision can be delayed by half a second?

deleted 4y ago

[deleted]

austinjp 4y ago

Prediction, operating at the limits of human ability in an extremely limited (but very impressive) application.

personjerry 4y ago

When you're focusing/tracking something your eyes do a different type of movement called smooth pursuit [0]. To see this in action, look around normally - notice your eyes move and then stop, taking in "still frames". Next, look at your finger and move your finger around. Notice that your eyes smoothly follow the finger around. When the batter is watching the ball, he is similarly tracking it. [0]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Smooth_pursuit https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Smooth_pursuit

a_e_k 4y ago
To help the batter track the ball, MLB stadiums also have a darker, solid-color region called the "batter's eye" behind the pitcher and center field [0]. It's also why pitchers can't wear white sleeves or use white gloves (e.g., Eddie Butler getting his sleeves cut off before he pitches [1]). [0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Batter%27s_eye https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Batter%27s_eye [1] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UR0nHFTWNnY https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UR0nHFTWNnY

fimdomeio 4y ago

If the batter is not looking at the ball at the moment it's leaving the hand I doubt he can hit the ball. Also as soon as the pitcher starts moving his body the brain probably starts creating all types of predictions of what will happen next.

JackFr 4y ago

He probably isn’t moving his eyes, at least not tracking the ball. Presumably his brain is using a basket of other tricks to let him know where the ball is going to be.

bena 4y ago

There's a range. Maybe his masking is less. Maybe his brain compensates in such ways that it makes it possible. Maybe he's not hitting the pitch, he's hitting where he believes the pitch is going to be. 90mph is 132 feet per second. The distance from the pitching mound to home plate is 60 feet, 6 inches. The ball will take under half a second to travel that distance. I think about 450ms. The actual swing takes about 150ms. That gives the batter about 300ms total to identify the pitch and decide to swing. They're basically watching the pitcher and determining where to swing based on the release. Once the bat is in motion, it's up to the baseball gods. That's why batting averages are so low. Even great batters are hitting the ball only about a third of the time.

danielheath 4y ago

You can estimate where the ball will pass based on how the pitcher moves their hands, before they have even released it (that's why people swing when you pretend to throw but don't release!)

davidmurdoch 4y ago

Maybe that's why it's so important to "focus on the ball"? Vision isn't retroactivity updated if your eyes aren't shifting.

kristov 4y ago

Maybe that's why you have to practice to be good at sports. I couldn't hit a 90 mph ball to save my life.