Predictive and prospective control strategies of elite batters during interception tasks: coupling of perception and action

TL;DR

This study explores how elite baseball batters intercept moving objects by combining visual perception and motor control when parts of the visual input are blocked.

Contribution

The study reveals how predictive and prospective control mechanisms interact during interception tasks under partial visual occlusion.

Findings

Temporal efficiency is maintained through compensatory strategies when visual input is partially occluded.

Spatial accuracy declines significantly when early predictive visual information is unavailable.

Internal timing models regulate hand timing independently of immediate visual feedback.

Abstract

Intercepting fast-moving objects, such as during baseball batting, requires the seamless integration of visual perception and motor execution under severe temporal constraints. Although the critical role of visual information in visuomotor coordination is well established, it remains unclear how predictive and prospective control interact when certain phases of visual input are unavailable. This study aimed to elucidate their distinct contributions by examining visuomotor coupling under selectively occluded early and/or late visual information during a time-constrained interception task.

Fifteen skilled collegiate baseball players performed a computerized touchscreen interception task, intercepting a fast-moving stimulus (0.5, 0.67, and 1.0 m/s) at a target area. Stimulus visibility was manipulated across four occlusion conditions (full vision, early occlusion, late occlusion, and both occlusions). Eye and hand movements were recorded simultaneously to analyze gaze behavior, motor performance, and spatiotemporal coupling.

All temporal variables shortened as stimulus velocity increased. Under partial occlusion, participants employed distinct compensatory strategies: early occlusion accelerated movement initiation, whereas late occlusion adjusted completion timing. Hand timing error remained unaffected by occlusion, suggesting regulation by an internal timing model independent of immediate visual availability. In contrast, spatial accuracy (radial and spatial coupling errors) markedly declined when early predictive information was unavailable, particularly under both occlusions condition.

These findings suggest that successful interception depends on dual control mechanisms—temporal efficiency maintained through flexible compensation and spatial accuracy governed by predictive planning based on early visual information. The concurrent loss of predictive and prospective control critically impairs spatial integration, underscoring the necessity of integrated feedforward-feedback coordination.

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