Ventral and dorsal system contributions to visual anticipation in fast ball sports.

Many authors have alluded to the idea that Milner and Goodale’s (1995) distinction between a ventral system for perception and a dorsal system for action is directly relevant for the study of visual anticipation in fast ball sports. Yet, an encompassing evaluation is lacking. The purpose of this paper is to provide an appraisal of the significance of Milner and Goodale’s two-visual system model for the study of visual anticipation. We introduce a new framework for visual anticipation that emphasizes the interacting contributions of the ventral system in perceiving what action the situation affords and the dorsal system in the visual guidance of that action. In the ensuing review, we argue that the adoption of this new framework implies that much of previous laboratory and field research on visual anticipation, and in particular the work that employed the occlusion technique, only examined the role of the ventral system. Because researchers have overlooked movement control, and hence the dorsal system’s contribution, our knowledge of visual anticipation is limited and somewhat biased. The implications for the design of future experiments are discussed.