Constraining of peripheral vision reduces standing long jump performance in children

Abstract

Peripheral vision appears to be more important than central vision for tasks where precision or ocular coordination are essential. To determine whether this effect is observedwhile performing a task for which precision is not critical, the performance of 34 children (6–9 years old) in standing long jumpwastested. Adapted swimming goggles, which induced different levels of constraint of field of vision,were used to provide full field vision, restrictthe use of central vision, and restrict the use of peripheral vision. The obtained results showed a strong detrimental effect onstanding horizontal jump length (both best and mean results) when the peripheral field of vision was restricted (approximately 5% less; p < 0.001). However, thedetrimental effect was not observed when only the central field of vision was absent. These results indicatethat peripheral vision is essentialfor this locomotor task. Although standing long jump canbe considered as a non-precision task, the children tested were able to jump farther both when vision was not restricted and when peripheral vision was allowed. A reasonable explanation is that the absence of access to optic flow detection inhibits normal motor behaviour perhaps owing to worse posture and stability. The obtainedresults suggest that information that arrives through peripheral vision is more important for jumping performance thaninformation from central vision. Furthermore, jumping biomechanics may be more hampered by the absence of these peripheral stimuli than by the impossibility of gazing straight inthe jumping direction.Thus, it is reasonable to conclude that special attention should be paid to the use of peripheral vision in physical activity tasks.