In December of 2008 an Iraqi reporter threw his shoes at George W. Bush during a news conference in Baghdad. The American public had a mixed reaction. Some people were offended, while others found it hilarious. Leffrey Lin and fellow researchers at the University of Washington, may have been the only people who felt encouraged.

Lin and colleagues were studying the visual system. They hypothesized that humans operate on a dual vision system. One controls action and the other controls perception. The action vision system can allow a person to react to an object that is coming at them befre the eyes have time to percieve the object. The authors believe that Bush and the Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki provide a perfect example of this in the youtube video in which Bush dodges the flying shoe.

The action system kicks in and Bush dodges the shoe. Next to him, and safely out of the line of contact, Nouri al-Maliki doesn't even process the show until much later.

Does this suggest two systems for processing what we see? Does it explain action before reaction?

Is the youtube footage convincing evidence for the dual system hypothesis?

To read the paper from the June issue of Current Biology, click here

To watch the youtube video of the shoe sailing news conference, click here.