Interception of a moving target is a fundamental behaviour of predators and requires tight coupling between the sensory and motor systems. In the literature of foraging studies, feedback mechanisms based on current target position are frequently reported. However, there have also been recent reports of animals employing feedforward mechanisms, in which prediction of future target location plays an important role. In nature, coordination of these two mechanisms may contribute to intercepting evasive prey. However, how animals weigh these two mechanisms remain poorly understood. Here, we conducted a behavioural experiment involving crows (which show flexible sensorimotor coordination in various domains) capturing a moving target. We changed the velocity of the target to examine how the crows utilised prediction of the target location. The analysis of moment-to-moment head movements and computational simulations revealed that the crows used prediction of future target location when the target velocity was high. In contrast, their interception depended on the current momentary position of the target when the target velocity was slow. These results suggest that crows successfully intercept targets by weighing predictive and visual feedback mechanisms, depending on the target velocity.

中文翻译：

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大嘴乌鸦的拦截捕获：对未来目标位置的预测和当前目标位置的视觉反馈的速度相关权重

拦截移动目标是掠食者的基本行为，需要在感觉和运动系统之间紧密耦合。在觅食研究的文献中，经常报告基于当前目标位置的反馈机制。但是，最近也有动物采用前馈机制的报道，其中预测未来目标位置起着重要作用。本质上，这两种机制的协调可能有助于拦截逃避的猎物。但是，人们对动物如何权衡这两种机制仍然知之甚少。在这里，我们进行了一项行为实验，其中涉及乌鸦（在各个领域显示出灵活的感觉运动协调性），捕获了移动的目标。我们更改了目标的速度，以检查乌鸦如何利用目标位置的预测。头部到头部的瞬间运动分析和计算仿真表明，当目标速度很高时，乌鸦会使用对未来目标位置的预测。相反，当目标速度较慢时，它们的拦截取决于目标的当前瞬时位置。这些结果表明，乌鸦可以通过权衡预测和视觉反馈机制来成功拦截目标，具体取决于目标速度。