When intercepting moving targets, people perform slightly better if they follow their natural tendency to pursue the target with their eyes. Is this because the velocity is judged more precisely when pursuing the target? To find out, we compared how well people could determine which of two sequentially presented moving bars was moving faster. There was always also a static bar on the screen. People judged the moving bar's velocity about 10% more precisely when pursuing it than when fixating the static bar.
CámaraC.López-MolinerJ.BrennerE.de la MallaC. (2020) Looking away from a moving target does not disrupt the way in which the movement toward the target is guided. Journal of Vision20, 5. https://doi.org/10.1167/jov.20.5.5
3.
FreemanT. C. A.ChampionR. A.WarrenP. A. (2010) A Bayesian model of perceived head-centered velocity during smooth pursuit eye movement. Current Biology, 20, 757–762. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cub.2010.02.059
4.
GoldsteinA. G. (1957) Judgments of visual velocity as a function of length of observation time. Journal of Experimental Psychology, 54, 457–461https://doi.org/10.1037/h0044965
5.
RyanJ.ZankerJ. M. (2001) What determines the perceived speed of dots moving within apertures?Experimental Brain Research, 141, 79–87. https://doi.org/10.1007/s002210100848