An app trying to understand how our brains predict the future

Darkball is an innovative mobile app created at the MIT Media Lab by Che-Wei Wang in collaboration with Playful Systems Group, and The Jazayeri Lab at the McGovern Institute for Brain Research at MIT. Based on the wonder of Cristiano Ronaldo famously volleying a corner kick in total darkness, Darkball challenges your brain to do the same, distilling that scenario into its simplest form – intercept a ball in the dark.

In the Darkball app, you have to intercept a ball when it reaches its final position. By changing the speed of the ball, the intervals when it is invisible, and the target position, the team is testing various hypotheses about the algorithms that are used to integrate information about past and present to make predictions about the future.

The aim of Darkball is to help understand how our brains predict future events by unveiling the ‘internal model’ function of our nervous system. Our brains predict the likelihood of outcomes given the finite amount of data available through our senses. This data is then used to calculate the most likely version of the immediate future, which is then expressed in our nervous system in a physical action; like catching a ball.  
With the latest advances in technology, designers are looking at new ways to challenge and understand human interaction. Neurocam took interaction to the next level last year with their headset that monitor electrical activity in the brain in order to film anything that excites the wearer.