It seems like the subconscious understands complex math like velocity equations better than the conscious does. For example, I dropped one of my headphones not long ago, before I fully realized it had left my ear I had already caught it on my shoulder by instinct alone. How does our brain know roughly how far down the headphone would have been? It appears to do the conscious action of mathematical equations for distance and velocity before I can even comprehend what’s happening, how?
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It sounds like you’re getting a few different things muddled together here. The vestibular system is part of your balance system. There are several chambers and channels in your inner ear that stem from your *vestibule* which detect the movement and orientation of your head.
Then there’s what you’re talking about, which is more like a subconscious reflex. The thing is, your brain isn’t doing maths or physics calculations. Your brain is basically just an AI model, except it’s not artificial. As a baby, there’s a whole bunch of time where all you’re doing is learning. You’re just taking in information from the world around you and trying to work out what it means. We keep this up throughout our lives.
When somebody practices throwing a ball, for example, they just have a guess as how to throw it. Gradually, over time, they begin to figure out what different tweaks do, like throwing it harder or higher or with spin etc. Then, when they get good at it, they can nail a target first time. They aren’t actively calculating anything. They haven’t seen that target at that distance before. It’s more like their brain goes into the archive of previous throws, picks the ones that seem closest, and goes for something in between.
Catching something as a reflex is a similar situation. Your brain is comparing what’s happening (something falling from near the side of your head) to previous examples (pulling a wired headphones out, something falling from your grip, etc) and trying to figure out what you’re wanting to do.
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