Samuel J. Vine

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.

Psychomotor control in a virtual laparoscopic surgery training environment: gaze control parameters differentiate novices from experts

BackgroundSurgical simulation is increasingly used to facilitate the adoption of technical skills during surgical training. This study sought to determine if gaze control parameters could differentiate between the visual control of experienced and novice operators performing an eye-hand coordination task on a virtual reality laparoscopic surgical simulator (LAP Mentor™). Typically adopted hand movement metrics reflect only one half of the eye-hand coordination relationship; therefore, little is known about how hand movements are guided and controlled by vision.MethodsA total of 14 right-handed surgeons were categorised as being either experienced (having led more than 70 laparoscopic procedures) or novice (having performed fewer than 10 procedures) operators. The eight experienced and six novice surgeons completed the eye-hand coordination task from the LAP Mentor basic skills package while wearing a gaze registration system. A variety of performance, movement, and gaze parameters were recorded and compared between groups.ResultsThe experienced surgeons completed the task significantly more quickly than the novices, but only the economy of movement of the left tool differentiated skill level from the LAP Mentor parameters. Gaze analyses revealed that experienced surgeons spent significantly more time fixating the target locations than novices, who split their time between focusing on the targets and tracking the tools.ConclusionThe findings of the study provide support for the utility of assessing strategic gaze behaviour to better understand the way in which surgeons utilise visual information to plan and control tool movements in a virtual reality laparoscopic environment. It is hoped that by better understanding the limitations of the psychomotor system, effective gaze training programs may be developed.

The influence of quiet eye training and pressure on attention and visuo-motor control

The aim of this study was to examine the efficacy of an intervention designed to train effective visual attentional control (quiet eye-training) for a far aiming skill, and determine whether such training protected against attentional disruptions associated with performing under pressure. Sixteen novice participants wore a mobile eye-tracker to assess their visual attentional control (quiet eye) during the completion of 520 basketball free throws carried out over 8 days. They first performed 40 pre-test free throws and were randomly allocated into a quiet eye (QE) training or Control group (technical instruction only). Participants then performed 360 free throws during a training period and a further 120 test free throws under conditions designed to manipulate the level of anxiety experienced. The QE trained group maintained more effective visual attentional control and performed significantly better in the pressure test compared to the Control group, providing support for the efficacy of attentional training for visuo-motor skills.

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: Effects on Learning and Performance Under Pressure

The aim of this study was to examine the efficacy of quiet eye (QE) training in optimizing the learning and performance under pressure of novices in a putting task. Fourteen participants performed 40 pre-test putts and were randomly allocated into a QE training or control group. They then performed 320 acquisition phase putts and a further 120 test putts in a retention-transfer (pressure)-retention design. The QE-trained group maintained more effective attentional control and performed significantly better in the pressure test compared to the control group. Furthermore, longer QE periods were associated with better performance across all test putts.

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.

Cheating experience: Guiding novices to adopt the gaze strategies of experts expedites the learning of technical laparoscopic skills

BACKGROUND Previous research has demonstrated that trainees can be taught (via explicit verbal instruction) to adopt the gaze strategies of expert laparoscopic surgeons. The current study examined a software template designed to guide trainees to adopt expert gaze control strategies passively, without being provided with explicit instructions. METHODS We examined 27 novices (who had no laparoscopic training) performing 50 learning trials of a laparoscopic training task in either a discovery-learning (DL) group or a gaze-training (GT) group while wearing an eye tracker to assess gaze control. The GT group performed trials using a surgery-training template (STT); software that is designed to guide expert-like gaze strategies by highlighting the key locations on the monitor screen. The DL group had a normal, unrestricted view of the scene on the monitor screen. Both groups then took part in a nondelayed retention test (to assess learning) and a stress test (under social evaluative threat) with a normal view of the scene. RESULTS The STT was successful in guiding the GT group to adopt an expert-like gaze strategy (displaying more target-locking fixations). Adopting expert gaze strategies led to an improvement in performance for the GT group, which outperformed the DL group in both retention and stress tests (faster completion time and fewer errors). CONCLUSION The STT is a practical and cost-effective training interface that automatically promotes an optimal gaze strategy. Trainees who are trained to adopt the efficient target-locking gaze strategy of experts gain a performance advantage over trainees left to discover their own strategies for task completion.

Perceptual impairment and psychomotor control in virtual laparoscopic surgery

BackgroundIt is recognised that one of the major difficulties in performing laparoscopic surgery is the translation of two-dimensional video image information to a three-dimensional working area. However, research has tended to ignore the gaze and eye-hand coordination strategies employed by laparoscopic surgeons as they attempt to overcome these perceptual constraints. This study sought to examine if measures related to tool movements, gaze strategy, and eye-hand coordination (the quiet eye) differentiate between experienced and novice operators performing a two-handed manoeuvres task on a virtual reality laparoscopic surgical simulator (LAP Mentor™).MethodsTwenty-five right-handed surgeons were categorised as being either experienced (having led more than 60 laparoscopic procedures) or novice (having performed fewer than 10 procedures) operators. The 10 experienced and 15 novice surgeons completed the “two-hand manoeuvres” task from the LAP Mentor basic skills learning environment while wearing a gaze registration system. Performance, movement, gaze, and eye-hand coordination parameters were recorded and compared between groups.ResultsThe experienced surgeons completed the task significantly more quickly than the novices, used significantly fewer movements, and displayed shorter tool paths. Gaze analyses revealed that experienced surgeons spent significantly more time fixating the target locations than novices, who split their time between focusing on the targets and tracking the tools. A more detailed analysis of a difficult subcomponent of the task revealed that experienced operators used a significantly longer aiming fixation (the quiet eye period) to guide precision grasping movements and hence needed fewer grasp attempts.ConclusionThe findings of the study provide further support for the utility of examining strategic gaze behaviour and eye-hand coordination measures to help further our understanding of how experienced surgeons attempt to overcome the perceptual difficulties inherent in the laparoscopic environment.

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).