Visual attention in orienteers at different levels of experience

Abstract

This study explored how differences in orienteering experience are related to differences in how visual attention is allocated to the map, the environment and to travel. Twenty more experienced and 20 less experienced individuals orienteered while wearing a head-mounted video camera with microphone. The participants verbalized what they were attending to (map, environment or travel) at any given time. Each recorded film was coded at each point in time in terms of what the participant was attending to and whether the participant was moving or stationary. More experienced orienteers attended to the map markedly more while moving and spent less time stationary than less experienced orienteers. The participants' performance was significantly related to the ability to attend to the map while moving. The strategic control of attention is proposed to explain this ability. It is proposed that attentional training might enhance performance in sports characterized by multiple and dynamically varying elements.

The sport of orienteering: performance of physically active people who partake in leisure activities but have no experience in this modality. (Deporte de orientación: representaciones de los practicantes de actividad física deportiva de ocio sin experiencia en esta modalidad)

“…En las últimas décadas, el número de practicantes de deporte de orientación ha aumentado de tal modo que actualmente se piensa que ya sobrepasa un millón en más de 58 países (Eccles, Walsh & Ingledew, 2006).…”

“…The last few decades have seen an increase in practitioners and it is thought that nowadays there are over a million participants in more than 58 countries (Eccles, Walsh & Ingledew, 2006).…”

“…In the last few decades there has been such an increase in the number of people that take part in the sport of orienteering that it is thought that there are more than a million participants in over 58 countries (Eccles, Walsh & Ingledew, 2006).…”

Elite coaches views on factors contributing to excellence in orienteering

“…Due to the exponential growth of orienteers that currently exceeds one million practitioners in over 58 countries (Eccles, Walsh, & Ingledew, 2006) (and in Portugal is about 2655(Pordata -Contemporary Data Bases Portugal, 2012 there is a clear need to identify and understand the aspects that coaches consider crucial to obtain and maintain high performance levels. The objective of this study therefore was to identify factors that elite level orienteering coaches consider most important in the development and maintenance of excellence in orienteering.…”

Can We Predict Success of Orienteering Athletes?

“…4 Three studies about visual attention at rest and physical effort. [5][6][7] Two studies about map reading under physical effort. 8,9 These studies emphasise the importance of mapreading in the area of controls since parts of the races seem to bear a great deal of potential to optimize running times, thereby enabling runners to achieve their maximum performance levels.…”