The perceptual cognitive processes underpinning skilled performance in volleyball: Evidence from eye-movements and verbal reports of thinking involving an in situ representative task

• Type: Article in International Scientific Journal
• Date: 2012

Authors

afonso, j (Author) FADEUP; garganta, j (Author) FADEUP; mcrobert, a (Author) Other; williams, am (Author) Other; mesquita, i (Author) Other

Journal

Title: Journal of Sports Science and Medicine

Vol. 11

Pages: 339-345

ISSN: 1303-2968

Publisher: Department of Sports Medicine, Medical Faculty of Uludag University

Indexing

ISI Web of Knowledge - 23 Citations

Scopus - 13 Citations

Scientific classification

FOS: Medical and Health sciences > Health sciences

Other information

Authenticus ID: P-002-9K8

Abstract (EN): An extensive body of work has focused on the processes underpinning perceptual-cognitive expertise. The majority of researchers have used film-based simulations to capture superior performance. We combined eye movement recording and verbal reports of thinking to explore the processes underpinning skilled performance in a complex, dynamic, and externally paced representative volleyball task involving in situ data collection. Altogether, 27 female volleyball players performed as centre backcourt defenders in simulated sessions while wearing an eye-tracking device. After each sequence, athletes were questioned concerning their perception of the situation. The visual search strategies employed by the highly-skilled players were more exploratory than those used by skilled players, involving more fixations to a greater number of locations. Highly-skilled participants spent more time fixating on functional spaces between two or more display areas, while the skilled participants fixated on the ball trajectory and specific players. Moreover, highly-skilled players generated more condition concepts with higher levels of sophistication than their skilled counterparts. Findings highlight the value of using representative task designs to capture performance in situ.

Language: English

Type (Professor's evaluation): Scientific

No. of pages: 7