Analysis of Soccer Coach's Eye Gaze Behavior

Abstract

How do people see a scene? To what do they pay attention in their field of view, and when? This depends on the observer's knowledge, experience, and so on. This study compares the eye movements of an expert and novices, and extracts the skill-based differences in their gaze behaviors. In this paper, we focus on the gaze behaviors of a soccer coach and nonprofessional people while watching a video of a soccer game, and analyze the relationships between the eye movements and dynamic salient objects, that is, the ball and the players, in the video. The results show that, when the ball and some players are near either of the goals, the expert pays attention not to them but to the many other players in the middle of the soccer field. The findings of this study will constitute novel stepping stones for modeling a skillful viewing technique and useful knowledge that can be taught to novices.