{"title":"A temporal quantitative analysis of visuomotor behavior during four twisting somersaults in elite and sub-elite trampolinists","authors":"Eve Charbonneau , Mickaël Begon , Thomas Romeas","doi":"10.1016/j.humov.2024.103295","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Vision has previously been correlated with performance in acrobatic sports, highlighting visuomotor expertise adaptations. However, we still poorly understand the visuomotor strategies athletes use while executing twisting somersaults, even though this knowledge might be helpful for skill development. Thus, the present study sought to identify the differences in gaze behavior between elite and sub-elite trampolinists during the execution of four acrobatics of increasing difficulty. Seventeen inertial measurement units and a wearable eye-tracker were used to record the body and gaze kinematics of 17 trampolinists (8 elites, 9 sub-elites). Six typical metrics were analyzed using a mixed analysis of variance (ANOVA) with the <em>Expertise</em> as inter-subject and the <em>Acrobatics</em> as intra-subject factors. To complement this analysis, advanced temporal eye-tracking metrics are reported, such as the dwell time on areas of interest, the scan path on the trampoline bed, the temporal evolution of the gaze orientation endpoint (SPGO), and the time spent executing specific neck and eye strategies. A significant main effect of Expertise was only evidenced in one of the typical metrics, where elite athletes exhibited a higher number of fixations compared to sub-elites (<em>p</em> = 0.033). Significant main effects of <em>Acrobatics</em> were observed on all metrics (<em>p</em> < 0.05), revealing that gaze strategies are task-dependent in trampolining. The recordings of eyes and neck movements performed in this study confirmed the use of <em>“spotting”</em> at the beginning and end of the acrobatics. They also revealed a unique sport-specific visual strategy that we termed as <em>self-motion detection</em>. This strategy consists of not moving the eyes during fast head rotations, a strategy mainly used by trampolinists during the twisting phase. This study proposes a detailed exploration of trampolinists' gaze behavior in highly realistic settings and a temporal description of the visuomotor strategies to enhance understanding of perception-action interactions during the execution of twisting somersaults.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":55046,"journal":{"name":"Human Movement Science","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":1.6000,"publicationDate":"2024-10-08","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":"0","resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"Human Movement Science","FirstCategoryId":"102","ListUrlMain":"https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0167945724001209","RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"心理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"","PubModel":"","JCR":"Q4","JCRName":"NEUROSCIENCES","Score":null,"Total":0}
引用次数: 0
Abstract
Vision has previously been correlated with performance in acrobatic sports, highlighting visuomotor expertise adaptations. However, we still poorly understand the visuomotor strategies athletes use while executing twisting somersaults, even though this knowledge might be helpful for skill development. Thus, the present study sought to identify the differences in gaze behavior between elite and sub-elite trampolinists during the execution of four acrobatics of increasing difficulty. Seventeen inertial measurement units and a wearable eye-tracker were used to record the body and gaze kinematics of 17 trampolinists (8 elites, 9 sub-elites). Six typical metrics were analyzed using a mixed analysis of variance (ANOVA) with the Expertise as inter-subject and the Acrobatics as intra-subject factors. To complement this analysis, advanced temporal eye-tracking metrics are reported, such as the dwell time on areas of interest, the scan path on the trampoline bed, the temporal evolution of the gaze orientation endpoint (SPGO), and the time spent executing specific neck and eye strategies. A significant main effect of Expertise was only evidenced in one of the typical metrics, where elite athletes exhibited a higher number of fixations compared to sub-elites (p = 0.033). Significant main effects of Acrobatics were observed on all metrics (p < 0.05), revealing that gaze strategies are task-dependent in trampolining. The recordings of eyes and neck movements performed in this study confirmed the use of “spotting” at the beginning and end of the acrobatics. They also revealed a unique sport-specific visual strategy that we termed as self-motion detection. This strategy consists of not moving the eyes during fast head rotations, a strategy mainly used by trampolinists during the twisting phase. This study proposes a detailed exploration of trampolinists' gaze behavior in highly realistic settings and a temporal description of the visuomotor strategies to enhance understanding of perception-action interactions during the execution of twisting somersaults.
期刊介绍:
Human Movement Science provides a medium for publishing disciplinary and multidisciplinary studies on human movement. It brings together psychological, biomechanical and neurophysiological research on the control, organization and learning of human movement, including the perceptual support of movement. The overarching goal of the journal is to publish articles that help advance theoretical understanding of the control and organization of human movement, as well as changes therein as a function of development, learning and rehabilitation. The nature of the research reported may vary from fundamental theoretical or empirical studies to more applied studies in the fields of, for example, sport, dance and rehabilitation with the proviso that all studies have a distinct theoretical bearing. Also, reviews and meta-studies advancing the understanding of human movement are welcome.
These aims and scope imply that purely descriptive studies are not acceptable, while methodological articles are only acceptable if the methodology in question opens up new vistas in understanding the control and organization of human movement. The same holds for articles on exercise physiology, which in general are not supported, unless they speak to the control and organization of human movement. In general, it is required that the theoretical message of articles published in Human Movement Science is, to a certain extent, innovative and not dismissible as just "more of the same."