It always amazes me how small birds change direction mid-flight and seem to do it frequently, being able to make tons of movements in small urban areas with lots of obstacles.
Same thing with squirrels – they move so fast and seem to be able to make a hundred movements in the time a human could be able to make ten!
So what’s going on here? Do some animals just THINK faster than humans, and not only move faster than them?
In: Biology
Humans are geared for dexterity, that means fine motor control that allows us to do things a bird can’t, like thread a needle with our fingers.
The brain and nervous system are an odd machine due to evolution adding layer upon layer of circuits to try to improve the old stuff, without removing the old stuff. So, instead of having a simple circuit that let’s you thread needles, what you have is a bunch of circuits that want to twitch your fingers fast, like a bird, and a bunch more circuits on top of those that are countering them to slow your motions down and let you control them. The result is fine motor control, but at the cost of slowed reaction times.
Latest Answers