And now for something not about Serenity …
A new study indicates that picthing slowly to youngsters isn’t helping them — it actually makes it harder for them to catch or bat the ball.
“When you throw something slowly to a child, you think you’re doing them a favour by trying to be helpful,” said Terri Lewis, professor of psychology at McMaster University. “Slow balls actually appear stationary to a child.”
This explains why a young child holding a bat or a catcher’s mitt will often not react to a ball thrown toward her, prompting flummoxed parents to continue throwing the ball even slower. By adding a little speed to the pitch, Lewis and her team found that children were able to judge speed more accurately.
Reasons include that our brains are more wired for dealing with fast things than slow things (and for kids the relative immaturity accentuates this).
(via Kottke)