Key to Barry Bonds' success is eyeing the ball

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High-level perception is key
The distinct brain mechanisms for high-level motion perception are separate from those used to recognize and analyze color, faces and even low-level motion perception, Wilmer said.

"Our experience of the world normally appears quite seamless, but in fact our brain sees many aspects separately and knits them together into one experience of the world," he said. "Our study shows that substantial differences exist between individuals. As with most abilities, presumably an individual's skill at smooth pursuit is due to some combination of their genes and experiences."

Batters with a heightened ability at high-level perception may have eyes better skilled at locking onto and smoothly pursuing a pitch, and could especially have an advantage in analyzing a baseball's spin during the first third of a ball's trajectory, says Wilmer.

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Wilmer's results, detailed in a recent issue of the journal Neuron, suggest that training focused on high-level motion perception could possibly improve a player's ability to lock onto and analyze an oncoming pitch.

However, he says, it's not yet known whether the trait runs in families and whether "particular genes contribute to making one a smooth pursuit expert."

Pursuit of human objects
Of course, locking onto moving objects is important for others besides ball players. The skill also comes in handy in complicated social situations.

Say you're walking down the street as someone approaches. You want to be able to lock onto their face to tell if they're looking at you and determine what kinds of emotions they may be expressing.

If they're angry, you'd probably want to get out of their way.

"I think there's a great assumption that we see the same thing," Wilmer told LiveScience. But from his research, "it's not surprising that people have such big differences in abilities as evident in baseball and social function."

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