Reduced latency in manual interception with anticipatory smooth eye movements

Delays in visuomotor processing can cause the image of a moving object to fall outside the limited range of central vision, resulting in a blurred perception. To overcome these delays, anticipatory smooth eye movements (ASEMs) occur in the expected direction of future object motion before the object begins to move. This study demonstrated the functional benefits of ASEMs in rapid visually guided behaviors, highlighting their role beyond merely compensating for visuomotor delays. By experimentally facilitating ASEMs independent of participants' predictions regarding future object motion, we showed that ASEMs themselves expedite the initiation of interception movements. Our results revealed a quantitative relationship between ASEM velocity and interception latency on a single-trial level, which was more pronounced in participants employing predictive control compared to those relying on reactive control. These findings suggest that ASEMs enhance the feedforward control of interception movements by providing extraretinal signals rather than retinal signals.