The 'Quiet Eye' and motor performance in basketball free throw shooting (original) (raw)
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Gaze behavior in basketball shooting: Preliminary investigations
2015
Introduction. One of the main factors influencing the efficiency of basketball shooting is visual control. Proper visual fixation toward the hoop and backboard during shooting is necessary for preprogramming various movement parameters, e.g. direction, force, velocity, timing and limb coordination. Aim of Study. The aim of the study was to examine the relationship between gaze behavior and shooting efficiency in basketball. Material and Methods. Six collegiate basketball players performed jump shots off the dribble at six various positions around the goal (perimeter and distance, beyond the three-point line). A mobile binocular Eye Tracking System (SMI ETG 2w, Germany) was used to record the numbers of fixation points, gaze-stabilizing fixation points (quiet-eye) and total fixation time during dynamic shot tasks. SMI BeGaze software and SMI Semantic Gaze Mapping technology were used for data analysis. Differences between the variables related to shot accuracy and distance from the b...
Visual Fixation in NBA Free-Throws and the Relationship to On-Court Performance
Journal of Sports and Performance Vision
Purpose Although hitting a baseball is often described as the most difficult task in all of sports, shooting baskets during a game likely ranks a close second. Previous studies have described the role of vision in basketball and more specifically a concept termed the “quiet eye” has been shown to be related to basketball performance. How a shooter visualizes the target, how consistent their visual fixation is, and how long they maintain that fixation has been correlated to shooting success. Although the majority of previous reports have included non-professional basketball shooters, we evaluated NBA (National Basketball Association) players to determine if this skill was significant at the professional level. Materials and Methods We evaluated 16 professional NBA players prior to the 2018-2019 NBA season. All players shot 30 consecutive free-throws while wearing Tobii Pro eye-tracking glasses. Following the completion of the task, several metrics were calculated including shooting s...
Visual perception for basketball shooting
The general aim of the research presented in this thesis was to elucidate the visual basis of basketball shooting. Chapter 1 provides an overview of the pertinent literature. Previous studies on the topic focused on temporal aspects of vision and identified the rapidity of orienting and stabilising head and eyes on the target (Ripoll et al., 1986) and long target fixations (Ripoll et al.; Vickers, 1996) as necessary ingredients for successful performance and distinguishing marks of expertise. In apparent contrast to the long target fixations, a more recent study highlighted the benefits of looking at the target late (Oudejans et al., 2002). To help resolve this issue we examined the preferred timing of optical information pick-up in Chapter 2, the effects of online and offline visual control in Chapter 3, and the gaze behaviour during the preparation and execution of the shooting movements in Chapter 4. In addition to the temporal aspects of vision, we investigated the information sources that are used to guide basketball shooting in three experiments, which are reported in Chapter 5. The contents of these chapters may be summarised in greater detail as follows. In Chapter 2 we investigated the preferred timing of optical information pick-up and how this depended on the shooting style used. Our hypothesis was that expert basketball players prefer to look at the target as late as permitted by their shooting style. The employed shooting style determines whether or not a player can see the basket following the moment when ball and hands pass the line of sight (mLoS). Players with a low shooting style can only see the basket before mLoS, whereas players with a high shooting style can see the basket after mLoS until ball release. To investigate when players with either type of shooting style prefer to view the basket, we used an intermittent viewing technique and a 3D movement registration system. We used liquid crystal glasses that intermittently turned transparent and opaque (for 350 and 250 ms, respectively). The 3D movement registration system Optotrak was used to determine mLoS. Twelve expert basketball players, five with a low style and seven with a high style, participated in the experiment. Their percentage of hits under intermittent viewing was not significantly different from that under full vision, and was independent of shooting style. In a subsequent analysis, we mapped mLoS onto the events defined on the glasses, and used circular statistics to determine whether shooting-style dependent timing patterns were present. The results showed that in the low-style group mLoS occurred when the glasses became opaque, implying that the players could see the basket just before mLoS. In the high-style group, mLoS occurred near the moment when the glasses became transparent, implying that the players could see the basket just after mLoS until ball release. In other words, both groups viewed the basket as late as their shooting kinematics allowed. In addition to confirming our hypothesis, these results support the view that basketball shooting is controlled online by vision. This view was examined further in Chapter 3, which reports an experiment that we conducted to determine whether basketball shooting relies primarily on online or offline visual control. Our hypothesis was that basketball players use online visual information to execute the shooting movements, in order to insure that performance is accurate. To test this hypothesis, we employed a visual delay paradigm. We used liquid crystal glasses that either remained transparent throughout movement execution, or became opaque zero, one, or two seconds before movement initiation. A movement registration system (Optotrak) was used to register the movements of the shooting arm (ring and little fingers, metacarpal area, wrist, elbow, shoulder) in 3D. Ball trajectories were recorded to estimate the landing position of the ball on the plane of the rim. Seventeen expert basketball players, eight with a low style and nine with a high style, participated in the experiment. Both the percentage of hits and the landing positions revealed marked decrements in performance with increasing delays. Furthermore, the analysis of covariance coefficients on the kinematic data revealed that the severity of visual conditions was associated with decreased coupling strength and increased variability between the arm joints. Even though most shots still landed in the vicinity of the basket in the absence of vision, accuracy was significantly better under normal viewing. Although this study does not rule out the use of offline visual information, it underscores the online use of visual information in basketball shooting. In Chapter 4 we investigated whether the gaze behaviour of expert basketball players was dependent on their shooting style and the type of basketball shot performed. Based on previous findings, we expected that low-style players would look long at the basket in the free throw but less long in the jump shot, and that high-style players would look at the basket after mLoS until ball release both in the free throw and the jump shot. We invited six expert basketball players, three with a low style and three with a high style, to take ten jump shots and ten free throws while wearing an eye tracking system to register their looking behaviour. Looking behaviour was coded for each frame, such that looking at the rim was 1, the basket’s net or small square on the backboard was .8, the remaining backboard was .6, other locations were .4 and no gaze behaviour was 0. Next, we analysed the gaze behaviour directed at the basket or backboard before and after mLoS. The results were in accordance with our expectations. The low-style shooters looked at the target only before mLoS and for about 1 s in the free throw but half that duration in the jump shot, without any repercussions for shooting accuracy. The high-style shooters, in contrast, looked consistently at the target after mLoS both in the free throw and in the jump shot for about 400 ms. In Chapter 5 we investigated the optical basis of basketball shooting in a series of three experiments. From a theoretical analysis it appeared that the absolute distance between player and basket (d) and the angle of elevation subtended by the line of gaze to the basket (α) could be used conjointly to determine the exact location of the basket. Alternatively, the location of the basket could be determined by using either d or α in combination with the height of the basket, which was always set at the same official height. In the first experiment it appeared that expert basketball shooters preserved good shooting accuracy when d and α were the only information sources available during movement execution. In the second experiment, accuracy was maintained upon removal of information sources related to d, indicating that those information sources were less relevant for successful shooting. Finally, we tested the use of α by manipulating the height of the basket unbeknownst to participants. Consistent with the use of angle of elevation, participants misperceived heightened baskets as being closer and lowered baskets as being further away. We therefore concluded that angle of elevation information, calibrated to the official basket’s height, was used for successful shooting. In sum, the experiments presented in the present thesis provided clear insights into the visual basis of basketball shooting. They highlight the importance of the online use of visual information during movement execution and of using the latest and most updated visual information available. A likely variable that may be picked up and used to guide the shooting movements is the angle of elevation, which is informative about the distance from the player to the target provided that both perception and shooting action are calibrated to the official height of the basket. These insights have broad theoretical implications, as well as several possible applications, that are discussed in the sixth and final chapter of this thesis.
Gaze Behavior in Basketball Free Throws Developed in Constant and Variable Practice
International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health
There are a limited number of studies focusing on the mechanisms explaining why variable practice gives an advantage in a novel situation and constant practice in performance in trained conditions. We hypothesized that this may be due to the different gaze behavior that is developed under different conditions. Twenty participants, randomly assigned to two different groups, practiced basketball free throws for three consecutive days, performing 100 throws per day. The constant group (n = 10) practiced at a free throw distance (4.57 m) only. The variable practice group (n = 10) randomly performed 20 shots per five throw distances (3.35, 3.96, 4.57, 5.18, and 5.79 m) on each day, also accumulating 100 shots per day. We analyzed the total gaze fixation duration, a number of fixations, and the average fixation duration on a basketball rim in a pretest and posttest at the 4.57 m distance. We computed a linear mixed model with test (pretest–posttest), group (constant–variable), and test × ...
Proceedings of the 1st Progress in Social Science, Humanities and Education Research Symposium (PSSHERS 2019), 2020
The aim of this study is to determine the validity and reliability test of eyes and hand coordination of basketball players, namely Overhead and Under Arm Throw. The samples of this study comprised of 58 basketball players from Universitas Negeri Padang and using purposive sampling techniques.The data were analyzed by using Pearson Product Moment to determinethe correlation of the independent and dependent variables. The validity and reliability testinghas been carried out to arrange the norms analysis of eyes and hand coordination by using scale 5 formulas. Based from the result of data analysis; 1) The eyes and hand coordination basketball validity test on Overhead and Under Arm Throw at Universitas Negeri Padang basketball players obtained 0.718 (good). 2) the level of eyes and hand coordination reliability test on Overhead and Under Arm Throw at Universitas Negeri Padang basketball players, obtained 0.875 (acceptable).
Visual Tracking Speed Is Related to Basketball-Specific Measures of Performance in NBA Players
Journal of Strength and Conditioning Research, 2014
GJ, Fragala, MS, and Stout, JR. Visual tracking speed is related to basketball-specific measures of performance in NBA players. J Strength Cond Res 28(9): 2406-2414, 2014-The purpose of this study was to determine the relationship between visual tracking speed (VTS) and reaction time (RT) on basketballspecific measures of performance. Twelve professional basketball players were tested before the 2012-13 season. Visual tracking speed was obtained from 1 core session (20 trials) of the multiple object tracking test, whereas RT was measured by fixed-and variable-region choice reaction tests, using a lightbased testing device. Performance in VTS and RT was compared with basketball-specific measures of performance (assists [AST]; turnovers [TO]; assist-to-turnover ratio [AST/ TO]; steals [STL]) during the regular basketball season. All performance measures were reported per 100 minutes played. Performance differences between backcourt (guards; n = 5) and frontcourt (forward/centers; n = 7) positions were also examined. Relationships were most likely present between VTS and AST (r = 0.78; p , 0.003), STL (r = 0.77; p , 0.003), and AST/TO (r = 0.78; p , 0.003), whereas a likely relationship was also observed with TO (r = 0.49; p , 0.109). Reaction time was not related to any of the basketball-specific performance measures. Backcourt players were most likely to outperform frontcourt players in AST and very likely to do so for VTS, TO, and AST/TO. In conclusion, VTS seems to be related to a basketball player's ability to see and respond to various stimuli on the basketball court that results in more positive plays as reflected by greater number of AST and STL and lower turnovers. *AST = assists; TO = turnovers; STL = steals; AST/TO = assists-to-turnovers ratio. †Threshold set to 0.1 for all relationships.
Eye-hand coordination with basketball dribbling skills: Does it have a relationship?
Physical Culture, Recreation and Rehabilitation
Background and Study Aim. Basketball is a community or group sport that requires skill, physical fitness and good speed in order to perform dribbling techniques to the maximum. However, it is possible that there are many supporting factors that affect a player's dribbling ability. This study aims to prove the relationship between eye-hand coordination and basketball dribbling ability. Material and Methods. This research uses descriptive methods with correlational research types and quantitative approaches. The sampling technique in this study used total sampling involving all male students of grade VIII, totaling 48 students. The research instrument used was a test for measuring the eye and hand coordination using the throw-catch test and dribbling skills using a basketball. The data analysis through the prerequisite normality, linearity, and correlation tests is assisted by using the SPSS 26 application. Results. The results of calculating the correlation of eye-hand coordinati...
Scientific Journal of Sport and Performance, 2022
This study is the first to use inter-distance differences in shooting direction error to investigate the influence of visual perception on basketball shooting performance. Thirty-two experienced basketball athletes (NCAA Division I-III: n = 15, Canadian U Sports Association: n = 13, National Basketball Association: n = 4) attempted blocks of 25 jump shots from a near (free throw) and far distance (three-point attempt). Differences in the root-mean-square deviation of lateral direction error as distance increased, ΔLDE, were used to measure an individual's change in lateral accuracy as the target changed within their visual field. The mean ΔLDE was-0.18 degrees (p < .001, 95% CI:-0.25-0.11) indicating that an individual's lateral direction accuracy worsened as shooting distance decreased and external visual cues transitioned away from their central vision. Shooting performance had a strong positive correlation with ΔLDE (r = 0.57, p = .001) indicating that better shooters have a higher ability to adapt to the changes in visual perception with distance and experienced smaller reductions in lateral accuracy as shooting distance decreased. These findings show that visual perception has a significant role in basketball shooting performance and that ΔLDE is a valuable measure for assessing how an athlete's proficiency in visual perception contributes to their performance.