Let's look back at former Detroit Tigers pitcher Armando Galarraga's near-perfect game on June 2, 2010, at Comerica Park. Wochit

Massachusetts Institute of Technology neuroscience professor Earl Miller slowly nodded his head. A video of a baseball game from June 2, 2010, flashed across his computer screen,where first base umpire Jim Joyce botched the final out in what shouldve been the only perfect game in Detroit Tigers history.

"Yup, got it,"he said after watching the slow-motion replay. "I see it."

He didnt take long to analyze what happened inside Joyces brain, when the first-baseumpire botched Armando Galarragas perfect game by incorrectly calling Jason Donald safe at first baseon what should have been the final out.

Joyces mistake, Miller said, was a product of imperfect perception.

MIT neuroscience professor Earl Miller discusses what happened in Jim Joyce's brain the night Armando Galarraga lost his perfect game.(Photo: Evan Petzold, Detroit Free Press)

"Visual perception is a mix between what's actually going on and what you expect to see," said Miller, one of the nation'sleading experts on cognitive control, at The Picower Institute for Learning and Memory at MIT. "The two things collide and interact in our brain. You don't know what you see. You see what you expect to see. Our brains are so caught up in believing our own perception, and it's hard to deal with sometimes."

The brain doesnt work like a camcorder, he said.Our visual bandwidth is narrow, meaning only small amounts of information can be captured at a time.Because of this, the brain constantly tries to predict what will happen next.

[ Why Galarraga's game is 'perfect,' even if baseball will never call it that ]

Miller explains it as "expectation influencing reality."

"If you were sitting back without expectation because theres no motivation and nothing at stake, you might actually have a better perception of whats going on because of the lack of expectation,"Miller said. "Doing a job like this, where youre going to be under scrutiny and thousands of people are watching, that extra level of stress is going to amp up this mechanism."

Earl K. Miller, Picower Professor of Neuroscience at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.(Photo: Massachusetts Institute of Technology)

More than 17,000 fans stood in excitement at Comerica Parkas Donald entered the batters box to face Galarraga with two outs in the top of the ninth inning, one out from the 21st perfect game in MLB history.

Joyce was in the middle of a high-stress situation, which could have cuedhisbrain to increase the power of the expectation mechanism. His desire to get thecall correct beyond a reasonable doubt ultimately led to the error, Miller said.

"Well, I guess anything's possible, but Im not that smart,"Joyce told the Free Press. "...All those things, subconsciously, Ill be honest with you, no, it really comes down to I missed the call. Its pretty simple."

[ Podcast: Looking back at Armando Galarraga's 'imperfect game,' 10 years later ]

The third pitch of the at-bat was a ground ball in the infield. First baseman Miguel Cabrera chased after it and stepped in front of second baseman Carlos Guillen to collect the ball. Galarraga raced to cover the bag.

The ball entered his glove.His foot touched first base.

A step later, Donald arrived.

"I really think that he saw out and signaled safe," former Tigers manager Jim Leyland told the Free Press. "I think he kind of froze, and I think he saw out, but he signaled safe, it was kind of like a mechanical thing. Now, I don't know if there's any truth to that, that's just what I thought."

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The "mechanical thing"Leyland questionscould be that Joyces vision of reality questioned his expectation. His right armtwitched toward signaling anout as if to portray uncertainty before using both arms to call the runner safe.

"It could be that he felt, 'Oh, this is an important play, and I just dont want to give it to the guy, so I better be sure.' Then, he sees it as an out when it really isnt an out, Miller said. "Its hard to say, just that he wanted it to be perfectly right because its such an important play. As a result, this expectation of extra scrutiny caused him to see the wrong thing."

And remember how far Cabrera had to range totrack down the ball? That might have something to do with all of this.

"If this umpire has seen a bunch of plays where the first baseman is way off to the side and the pitcher has to run over, and if on those plays the runner is often safe for that reason, thats going to build up this unconscious expectation that the runner will be safe,"Miller said. "If the first baseman wouldve stayed and the second baseman wouldve got the ball, thered be the expectation of an easy out. Thats going to influence perception."

The next batter grounded out, completing Galarragas "28-out perfect game" in a 3-0 win against the Cleveland Indians. Mayhem ensuedafter the final out. Galarraga hugged catcher Alex Avila, but his teammates rebuked Joyce on the field.

Even Leyland barked in his face.

Detroit Tigers manager Jim Leyland yells at first base umpire Jim Joyce, right, as umpires Jim Wolf (78), left, and home plate umpire Marvin Hudson (51), intervene after the Cleveland Indians lost 3-0 in Detroit on June 2, 2010. Tigers pitcher Armando Galarraga lost his bid for a perfect game with two outs in the ninth inning on the disputed call at first base.(Photo: Paul Sancya, Associated Press)

"I did not tell (Leyland) I missed the call,"Joyce told reporters after the game. "At that particular time, I really thought I got the call right."

Miller has no doubt about that.

He believes Joyce, based on his perception,trulysawthe runner touchthe base before Galarraga. But that's not to say he wasn't good at his job. Justdays later, he was named baseball's best umpire in a poll of 100 major-league players, according to ESPN The Magazine.

[ Jim Joyce, from Galarraga game, retires from MLB ]

"It doesnt matter how good you are," Miller said. "Everybodys perception is imperfect. Some people are more imperfect than others, some are better. Nobody is perfect. If you went back over calls like these over decades, youd find lots of mistakes."

Joyce watched the replay once he left the field, issued an emotional publicapologyand privately spoke with Galarraga. Theyquickly made amends, collaborated on a book and are now friends,but it's unlikely the call made by expectation influencing reality will ever be changed.

"And it all happens so fast, Miller said. "Split-second decisions are a killer."

Free Press sports writer Anthony Fenech contributed to this report.

Evan Petzold is a sports reporting intern at the Detroit Free Press. Contact him at epetzold@freepress.com or follow him on Twitter @EvanPetzold.

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What happened inside Jim Joyces brain the night Armando Galarraga lost his perfect game - Detroit Free Press