According to a team of researchers, an animal's ability to perceive(感知)time is linked to their pace of life.
"Our results lend support to the importance of time perception in animals where the ability to perceive time in a very short time may be the difference between life and death for fast moving creatures." commented lead author Kevin Healy from Trinity College Dublin.
The study was done with a variety of animals using phenomenon based on the maximum speed of flashes of light an individual can see before the light source is seen as constant. Dogs, for example, have eyes with a refresh rate higher than humans.
One example of this phenomenon at work, the authors say, is the housefly and its ability to avoid being hit. The research showed flies "observe motion in a shorter time than our own eyes can achieve, "which allows them to avoid being hit.
Professor Graeme Ruxton of the University of St Andrews in Scotland, who worked jointly on the research project, said in a statement, "Having eyes that send updates to the brain at much higher frequencies than our eyes do is of no value if the brain cannot process that information equally quickly. Thus, this work highlights the impressive abilities of even the smallest animal brains. Flies might not be deep thinkers, but they can make good decisions very quickly."
In comparison, the tiger beetle(虎甲虫)runs faster than its eyes can keep up, basically becoming blind, which requires it to stop periodically to re-evaluate its prey's(猎物)position.
Our results suggest that time perception offers an as yet unstudied dimension along which animals can specialize and there is considerable range to study this system in more detail.
