Anticipation in feedback-delayed manual tracking of a chaotic oscillator.

Manual tracking of non-chaotic targets, with and without feedback delay, as well as discrete prediction of chaotic maps have each been demonstrated by humans. Feedback-delayed tracking of chaotic targets, on the other hand, has not been well investigated. To this end, 10 participants were asked to track a chaotically moving target presented on a computer display by means of controlling a similar on-screen object using a pressure sensitive tablet and hand-held stylus. The participants were given delayed visual feedback of their own movements. Task success subsequently required anticipation on the part of the participant. Using 6 values of delay from 20 ms to 1 s, evidence shows that (a) participants are able to synchronize with a chaotic target, even with some amount of applied delay, (b) task performance varies systematically with applied delay, and (c) this same systematic dependence is predicted for systems exhibiting anticipating synchronization.