Biologists have determined the speed of vision for different animals. It has been reported by the British Ecological Society.
In total, more than one hundred species of vertebrates and invertebrates were analyzed. It turns out that animals with the fastest pace of life are able to notice changes faster.
The sight of insects and dragonflies has the highest frequency – about 300 Hz, that is, they notice changes 300 times per second. This is significantly faster than humans (65 Hz with the same research methodology). It is worth noting that this value is conditional and used for comparison, in reality one can notice changes much faster, and therefore monitors with a frequency of 140 Hz and higher are produced for gamers.
In vertebrates, variegated flycatchers, which can see at a frequency of 146 Hz, had the fastest eyes. The eyes of the salmon ran at 96 Hz and the eyes of dogs at 75 Hz. The slowest eyes belonged to a starfish with a frequency of 0.7 Hz. “Having fast vision helps the species detect rapid changes in the environment. This is useful if you are moving fast or if you need to accurately determine the direction of movement of prey,” the authors explain.
Scientists were surprised that the frequency of detection of marine predators is generally higher than that of aquatic ones. Maybe. This is due to the fact that in a jump on the ground it is impossible to correct the trajectory of movement, while in water the contact with the environment is constant. Fast vision has its drawbacks because it requires a lot of energy and is limited by how quickly retina-associated neurons can “recharge”. Those who don’t need quicksight can save this energy for other tasks like breeding.