Backbone.js internal triggerEvents function. How is it optimized?

I was reading through the Backbone source code and I came across the triggerEvents function, which is used internally. The function includes the comment "A difficult-to-believe, but optimized internal dispatch function'. I was curious if anyone with more knowledge of the internal mechanics of JavaScript could explain in exactly what way this is optimized. The function along with the comment:

// A difficult-to-believe, but optimized internal dispatch function for
// triggering events. Tries to keep the usual cases speedy (most internal
// Backbone events have 3 arguments).
var triggerEvents = function(events, args) {
  var ev, i = -1, l = events.length, a1 = args[0], a2 = args[1], a3 = args[2];
  switch (args.length) {
    case 0: while (++i < l) (ev = events[i]).callback.call(ev.ctx); return;
    case 1: while (++i < l) (ev = events[i]).callback.call(ev.ctx, a1); return;
    case 2: while (++i < l) (ev = events[i]).callback.call(ev.ctx, a1, a2); return;
    case 3: while (++i < l) (ev = events[i]).callback.call(ev.ctx, a1, a2, a3); return;
    default: while (++i < l) (ev = events[i]).callback.apply(ev.ctx, args); return;
   }
};