Human brains 'hard-wired' to link visual cues with body motion

A new study suggests that human brains are "hard-wired" to link what one sees and does.

The researchers at University College London and Cambridge University have found evidence of a specialized mechanism for spatial self-awareness that combines visual cues with body motion.

According to the study, human brains have separate "hard-wired" systems to visually track their own bodies, even if they are not paying attention to them and the newly-discovered network triggers reactions even before the conscious brain has time to process them.

Dr Alexandra Reichenbach of University College London said that humans very quickly to changes relating to objects directly their control and the findings of the study provides strong evidence for a dedicated neural pathway linking motor control to visual information, independently of the standard visual systems that are dependent on attention.

Reichenbach added that the results provide further evidence of a dedicated 'visuomotor binding' mechanism that is less prone to distractions than standard visual processing.