Perceptual-cognitive skill and the in situ performance of soccer players

Abstract

Many studies have shown that experts possess better perceptual-cognitive skills than novices (e.g., in anticipation, decision making, pattern recall), but it remains unclear whether a relationship exists between performance on those tests of perceptual-cognitive skill and actual on-field performance. In this study, we assessed the in situ performance of skilled soccer players and related the outcomes to measures of anticipation, decision making, and pattern recall. In addition, we examined gaze behaviour when performing the perceptual-cognitive tests to better understand whether the underlying processes were related when those perceptual-cognitive tasks were performed. The results revealed that on-field performance could not be predicted on the basis of performance on the perceptual-cognitive tests. Moreover, there were no strong correlations between the level of performance on the different tests. The analysis of gaze behaviour revealed differences in search rate, fixation duration, fixation order, gaze entropy, and percentage viewing time when performing the test of pattern recall, suggesting that it is driven by different processes to those used for anticipation and decision making. Altogether, the results suggest that the perceptual-cognitive tests may not be as strong determinants of actual performance as may have previously been assumed.

In situ examination of decision-making skills and gaze behaviour of basketball players

“…Gaze measures suggested that peripheral vision may serve a significant role in decision making in situ, whereas players mainly relied on central vision to execute an action. Collectively, these results confirm the earlier suggestions that in situ research designs should be used to accurately capture perceptual-motor performance of athletes (Dicks et al, 2010;Mann & Savelsbergh, 2015;Mann et al, 2007Mann et al, , 2010Pinder et al, 2015;Travassos et al, 2013;Van Maarseveen et al, 2016;Williams & Ericsson, 2005), and more advanced gaze analysis methods should be used to enhance our understanding of visual search (Mann et al, 2009). This study showed that decision-making skill and gaze behaviour can be measured successfully in situ, since the results revealed that wearing the eye tracking glasses did not influence the decisions of the players nor the quality of their decisions.…”

“…As such, this study shows that using eye tracking in situ does not (necessarily) interfere with task execution and performance, implying that eye tracking provides a powerful tool to investigate the relationship between perception, decision-making and action in situ, also in complex sports contexts. The availability of such a tool is in line with earlier suggestions that in situ research designs should be used to accurately capture perceptual-motor performance of athletes (Dicks et al, 2010;Mann & Savelsbergh, 2015;Mann et al, 2007Mann et al, , 2010Pinder et al, 2015;Travassos et al, 2013;Van Maarseveen et al, 2016;Williams & Ericsson, 2005), and opens up many opportunities for future research.…”

“…Third, visual search strategies appear to be very context specific. Watching the same situation for different purposes or tasks, results in different visual search strategies (Gorman, Abernethy, & Farrow, 2015;North, Williams, Hodges, Ward, & Ericsson, 2009;Van Maarseveen, Oudejans, Mann, & Savelsbergh, 2016). For example, Van Maarseveen et al (2016) found differences in the gaze of soccer players when watching the same video clips for the purposes of anticipation, decision making and pattern recall.…”

“…Moreover, decision-making skills and gaze behaviour have typically been measured using simplified video-based tests in which participants do not actually move, but respond verbally or by way of a button-press while concurrently wearing an eye tracking device. Although these simplified tests offer a significant advantage in terms of their methodological rigour and control, there is increasing evidence that these tests do not accurately represent the on-field performance they are designed to sample (Dicks, Button, & Davids, 2010;Mann, Abernethy, & Farrow, 2010;Mann, Williams, Ward, & Janelle, 2007;Pinder, Headrick, & Oudejans, 2015;Travassos et al, 2013;Van Maarseveen et al, 2016). First, significant differences have been found in both movement and visual behaviour when comparing performance on traditional video-based tests with contexts that are more representative of the actual performance environment (Dicks et al, 2010;Mann et al, 2010;Pinder et al, 2015).…”

An Augmented Perceptual-Cognitive Intervention Using a Pattern Recall Paradigm With Junior Soccer Players

“…Despite the consistency of these findings, we know very little about how these skills are trained ( Williams and Grant, 1999 ; Schorer et al, 2015 ). Previous studies of perceptual training in sport have focused on the influence of different forms of instruction ( Smeeton et al, 2005 ; Abernethy et al, 2012 ) or feedback ( Memmert et al, 2009 ; Schorer et al, 2010 ), as well as transfer from the laboratory to field settings ( Scott et al, 1998 ; Williams et al, 2003 ; van Maarseveen et al, 2016 ) or from virtual realities to reality ( Tirp et al, 2015 ).…”