Lee J. Moore

Quiet Eye Training Facilitates Competitive Putting Performance in Elite Golfers

The aim of this study was to examine the effectiveness of a brief quiet eye (QE) training intervention aimed at optimizing visuomotor control and putting performance of elite golfers under pressure, and in real competition. Twenty-two elite golfers (mean handicap 2.7) recorded putting statistics over 10 rounds of competitive golf before attending training individually. Having been randomly assigned to either a QE training or Control group, participants were fitted with an Applied Science Laboratories Mobile Eye tracker and performed 20 baseline (pre-test) putts from 10 ft. Training consisted of video feedback of their gaze behavior while they completed 20 putts; however the QE-trained group received additional instructions related to maintaining a longer QE period. Participants then recorded their putting statistics over a further 10 competitive rounds and re-visited the laboratory for retention and pressure tests of their visuomotor control and putting performance. Overall, the results were supportive of the efficacy of the QE training intervention. QE duration predicted 43% of the variance in putting performance, underlying its critical role in the visuomotor control of putting. The QE-trained group maintained their optimal QE under pressure conditions, whereas the Control group experienced reductions in QE when anxious, with subsequent effects on performance. Although their performance was similar in the pre-test, the QE-trained group holed more putts and left the ball closer to the hole on missed putts than their Control group counterparts in the pressure test. Importantly, these advantages transferred to the golf course, where QE-trained golfers made 1.9 fewer putts per round, compared to pre-training, whereas the Control group showed no change in their putting statistics. These results reveal that QE training, incorporated into a pre-shot routine, is an effective intervention to help golfers maintain control when anxious.

Quiet eye training expedites motor learning and aids performance under heightened anxiety: The roles of response programming and external attention

Quiet eye training expedites skill learning and facilitates anxiety-resistant performance. Changes in response programming and external focus of attention may explain such benefits. We examined the effects of quiet eye training on golf-putting performance, quiet eye duration, kinematics (clubhead acceleration), and physiological (heart rate, muscle activity) responses. Forty participants were assigned to a quiet eye or technical trained group and completed 420 baseline, training, retention, and pressure putts. The quiet eye group performed more accurately and displayed more effective gaze control, lower clubhead acceleration, greater heart rate deceleration, and reduced muscle activity than the technical trained group during retention and pressure tests. Thus, quiet eye training was linked to indirect measures of improved response programming and an external focus. Mediation analyses partially endorsed a response programming explanation.

The effect of challenge and threat states on performance: an examination of potential mechanisms.

Challenge and threat states predict future performance; however, no research has examined their immediate effect on motor task performance. The present study examined the effect of challenge and threat states on golf putting performance and several possible mechanisms. One hundred twenty-seven participants were assigned to a challenge or threat group and performed six putts during which emotions, gaze, putting kinematics, muscle activity, and performance were recorded. Challenge and threat states were successively manipulated via task instructions. The challenge group performed more accurately, reported more favorable emotions, and displayed more effective gaze, putting kinematics, and muscle activity than the threat group. Multiple putting kinematic variables mediated the relationship between group and performance, suggesting that challenge and threat states impact performance at a predominately kinematic level.

Quiet eye training: The acquisition, refinement and resilient performance of targeting skills

Abstract How we learn and refine motor skills in the most effective manner and how we prevent performance breakdown in pressurised or demanding circumstances are among the most important questions within the sport psychology and skill acquisition literature. The quiet eye (QE) has emerged as a characteristic of highly skilled perceptual and motor performance in visually guided motor tasks. Defined as the final fixation that occurs prior to a critical movement, over 70 articles have been published in the last 15 years probing the role that the QE plays in underpinning skilled performance. The aim of this review is to integrate research findings from studies examining the QE as a measure of visuomotor control in the specific domain of targeting skills; motor skills requiring an object to be propelled to a distant target. Previous reviews have focused primarily on the differences in QE between highly skilled performers and their less skilled counterparts. The current review aims to discuss contemporary findings relating to 1. The benefits of QE training for the acquisition and refinement of targeting skills; 2. The effects of anxiety upon the QE and subsequent targeting skill performance and 3. The benefits of QE training in supporting resilient performance under elevated anxiety. Finally, potential processes through which QE training proffers this advantage, including improved attentional control, response programming and external focus, will be discussed and directions for future research proposed.

Evaluating stress as a challenge is associated with superior attentional control and motor skill performance: Testing the predictions of the biopsychosocial model of challenge and threat

The biopsychosocial model of challenge and threat (Blascovich, 2008) suggests that individuals who evaluate a performance situation as a challenge will perform better than those who evaluate it as a threat. However, limited research has examined (a) the influence of challenge and threat evaluations on learned motor performance under pressure and (b) the attentional processes by which this effect occurs. In the present study 52 novices performed a motor task (laparoscopic surgery), for which optimal visual attentional control has been established. Participants performed a Baseline trial (when the task was novel) and were then trained to proficiency before performing under pressurized conditions designed to increase anxiety (Pressure). At Baseline, regression analyses were performed to examine the relationship between challenge/threat evaluations and the outcome variables (performance, cardiovascular response, and visual attention). At Pressure, hierarchical regression analyses (controlling for the degree of learning) were performed to examine the relationship between challenge/threat evaluations and the outcome variables. At both Baseline and Pressure tests evaluating the task as more of a challenge was associated with more effective attentional control and superior performance. In the Baseline test, evaluating the task as more of a challenge was associated with differential cardiovascular responses. Although there is some support for an attentional explanation of differential performance effects, additional analyses did not reveal mediators of the relationship between challenge/threat evaluations and motor performance. The findings have implications for the training and performance of motor skills in pressurized environments (e.g., surgery, sport, aviation).

Robotic technology results in faster and more robust surgical skill acquisition than traditional laparoscopy.

Abstract Technical surgical skills are said to be acquired quicker on a robotic rather than laparoscopic platform. However, research examining this proposition is scarce. Thus, this study aimed to compare the performance and learning curves of novices acquiring skills using a robotic or laparoscopic system, and to examine if any learning advantages were maintained over time and transferred to more difficult and stressful tasks. Forty novice participants were randomly assigned to either a robotic- or laparoscopic-trained group. Following one baseline trial on a ball pick-and-drop task, participants performed 50 learning trials. Participants then completed an immediate retention trial and a transfer trial on a two-instrument rope-threading task. One month later, participants performed a delayed retention trial and a stressful multi-tasking trial. The results revealed that the robotic-trained group completed the ball pick-and-drop task more quickly and accurately than the laparoscopic-trained group across baseline, immediate retention, and delayed retention trials. Furthermore, the robotic-trained group displayed a shorter learning curve for accuracy. The robotic-trained group also performed the more complex rope-threading and stressful multi-tasking transfer trials better. Finally, in the multi-tasking trial, the robotic-trained group made fewer tone counting errors. The results highlight the benefits of using robotic technology for the acquisition of technical surgical skills.

Individual reactions to stress predict performance during a critical aviation incident

Background: Understanding the influence of stress on human performance is of theoretical and practical importance. An individuals reaction to stress predicts their subsequent performance; with a “challenge” response to stress leading to better performance than a “threat” response. However, this contention has not been tested in truly stressful environments with highly skilled individuals. Furthermore, the effect of challenge and threat responses on attentional control during visuomotor tasks is poorly understood. Design: Thus, this study aimed to examine individual reactions to stress and their influence on attentional control, among a cohort of commercial pilots performing a stressful flight assessment. Methods: Sixteen pilots performed an “engine failure on take-off” scenario, in a high-fidelity flight simulator. Reactions to stress were indexed via self-report; performance was assessed subjectively (flight instructor assessment) and objectively (simulator metrics); gaze behavior data were captured using a mobile eye tracker, and measures of attentional control were subsequently calculated (search rate, stimulus driven attention, and entropy). Results: Hierarchical regression analyses revealed that a threat response was associated with poorer performance and disrupted attentional control. Conclusion: The findings add to previous research showing that individual reactions to stress influence performance and shed light on the processes through which stress influences performance.

Quiet eye training promotes challenge appraisals and aids performance under elevated anxiety.

Quiet eye training, a decision training intervention developed by Vickers and colleagues (see Vickers [Vickers, J.N. 2007. Perception, cognition and decision training: The quiet eye in action. Champaign: Human Kinetics] for a review), has been shown to facilitate anxiety-resistant performance in novice learners [Vine, S.J., & Wilson, M.R. 2010. Quiet eye training: Effects on learning and performance under pressure. Journal of Applied Sport Psychology, 22, 361–376; Vine, S.J., & Wilson, M.R. 2011. The influence of quiet eye training and pressure on attention and visuomotor control. Acta Psychologica, 136, 340–346]. However, the potential mechanisms underpinning this beneficial effect are not fully known. This study examined the effects of a quiet eye training intervention on golf putting performance (mean performance error), gaze control (quiet eye duration), and one possible psychological mechanism; cognitive appraisal (evaluation of perceived demands and resources). Thirty novice participants were randomly assigned to a quiet eye or technical trained group and completed 420 baseline, training, retention, and pressure putts. Gaze was measured using an ASL Mobile Eye Tracker. Cognitive anxiety and appraisal were assessed via the mental readiness form-3 [Krane, V. 1994. The mental readiness form as a measure of competitive state anxiety. The Sport Psychologist, 8, 189–202] and cognitive appraisal ratio [Tomaka, J., Blascovich, J., Kelsey, R.M., & Leitten, C.L. 1993. Subjective, physiological, and behavioural effects of threat and challenge appraisal. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 65, 248–260], respectively. Although both groups experienced greater cognitive anxiety (p < .001), the quiet eye trained group performed more accurately (p < .001), displayed more effective gaze control (p < .001), and appraised the pressure test more favourably than the technical trained group (p < .05). The more positive appraisal arose from the quiet eye trained group reporting a greater perception of coping resources than the technical trained group (p < .05). Mediation analyses revealed that cognitive appraisal mediated the relationship between training group and mean radial error during the pressure test. Thus, quiet eye training protects against performance failure under increased anxiety by amplifying perceived coping resources, permitting performers to appraise demanding competitive situations more adaptively, as a challenge rather than a threat.

'Challenge' and 'threat' states in surgery: implications for surgical performance and training.

The operating room can be a highly pressurised environment in which surgeons encounter various stressors, including technical complications, equipment failure, time pressure, distractions, evaluative threat and performance anxiety [ 1 ] . Procedures that are complex or longer in duration are proposed to trigger even greater stress levels because they are more physically and mentally demanding [ 2 ] . However, studies examining the effects of acute stress on operating performance have shown considerable variability; from no effect, to either facilitative or debilitative effects [ 1,3,4 ] . This variability is probably caused by the individualistic way in which surgeons respond to stress. Whilst some might respond positively and perform well, others respond negatively and perform poorly. One theoretical framework that offers exciting potential for explaining such individual differences in stress response, and which has not previously been investigated in surgery, is the biopsychosocial model (BPSM) of challenge and threat [ 5 ] .

Surgeons’ display reduced mental effort and workload while performing robotically assisted surgical tasks, when compared to conventional laparoscopy

BackgroundResearch has demonstrated the benefits of robotic surgery for the patient; however, research examining the benefits of robotic technology for the surgeon is limited. This study aimed to adopt validated measures of workload, mental effort, and gaze control to assess the benefits of robotic surgery for the surgeon. We predicted that the performance of surgical training tasks on a surgical robot would require lower investments of workload and mental effort, and would be accompanied by superior gaze control and better performance, when compared to conventional laparoscopy.MethodsThirty-two surgeons performed two trials on a ball pick-and-drop task and a rope-threading task on both robotic and laparoscopic systems. Measures of workload (the surgery task load index), mental effort (subjective: rating scale for mental effort and objective: standard deviation of beat-to-beat intervals), gaze control (using a mobile eye movement recorder), and task performance (completion time and number of errors) were recorded.ResultsAs expected, surgeons performed both tasks more quickly and accurately (with fewer errors) on the robotic system. Self-reported measures of workload and mental effort were significantly lower on the robotic system compared to the laparoscopic system. Similarly, an objective cardiovascular measure of mental effort revealed lower investment of mental effort when using the robotic platform relative to the laparoscopic platform. Gaze control distinguished the robotic from the laparoscopic systems, but not in the predicted fashion, with the robotic system associated with poorer (more novice like) gaze control.ConclusionsThe findings highlight the benefits of robotic technology for surgical operators. Specifically, they suggest that tasks can be performed more proficiently, at a lower workload, and with the investment of less mental effort, this may allow surgeons greater cognitive resources for dealing with other demands such as communication, decision-making, or periods of increased complexity in the operating room.