Effects of anxiety,a cognitive secondary task,and expertise on gaze behavior and performance in a far aiming task

ObjectivePrevious studies focused on investigating the separate effects of anxiety, cognitive load, and expertise on perceptual-motor performance, but the combined effects of these factors have not been studied yet. The objective of the current study was to investigate these factors in combination.DesignEleven expert dart players and nine novices performed a dart throwing task in low-anxiety (LA) and high-anxiety (HA) conditions with and without a secondary task.MethodTo manipulate anxiety the dart throwing task was performed low (LA) and high (HA) on a climbing wall with and without the secondary counting backwards task. Performance and efficiency of task execution and gaze behavior were assessed.ResultsThe anxiety manipulation evoked a decrease in dart performance, but only for the novices. Increases in mental effort and dart times and a decrease in response rate on the secondary task were observed for both groups. This shows that there were decreases in processing efficiency with anxiety. Most important, the anxiety-induced decrease in performance for the novices was accompanied by final fixations on the target that were substantially shorter and deviated off the target earlier. The dual task did not affect performance.ConclusionAnxiety affects efficiency and sometimes performance in far aiming tasks. Changes are accompanied by changes in gaze behavior, particularly the final fixation on the target. All in all, findings provide support for Attentional Control Theory as a suitable framework to explain the effects of anxiety, a cognitive secondary task, and expertise in far aiming tasks.     

The influence of degree of expertise and objective task complexity on perceived task complexity and performance

Research on expertise has shown that nonexperts may sometimes outperform experts. Some researchers have suggested that superior performance by experts depends on the match between the experts' cognition and the demands of the task. The authors explored this issue using a quasi-experiment set in an organization. They examined how 3 sets of similar tasks that differ in their type of complexity can lead to differences in task perceptions and performance among experts, intermediates, and novices. The results suggest that experts and novices pay attention to different aspects of a task and that this affects both their perceptions of task complexity (i.e., task analyzability and variability) and their performance on the task.     

Quiet eye facilitates sensorimotor preprograming and online control of precision aiming in golf putting

An occlusion protocol was used to elucidate the respective roles of preprograming and online control during the quiet eye period of golf putting. Twenty-one novice golfers completed golf putts to 6-ft and 11-ft targets under full vision or with vision occluded on initiation of the backswing. Radial error (RE) was higher, and quiet eye was longer, when putting to the 11-ft versus 6-ft target, and in the occluded versus full vision condition. Quiet eye durations, as well as preprograming, online and dwell durations, were longer in low-RE compared to high-RE trials. The preprograming component of quiet eye was significantly longer in the occluded vision condition, whereas the online and dwell components were significantly longer in the full vision condition. These findings demonstrate an increase in preprograming when vision is occluded. However, this was not sufficient to overcome the need for online visual control during the quiet eye period. These findings suggest the quiet eye period is composed of preprograming and online control elements; however, online visual control of action is critical to performance.     

Rightward superiority of eye movements in a bimanual aiming task

To examine the role of visual monitoring in the between-hand differences in skilled manual movements, eye movements and performance during bimanual aiming tasks were analysed. When subjects were required to make bimanual aiming responses to symmetrically placed targets, they preferentially monitored the movements of the right hand, resulting in better performance on the right hand. In addition, manipulation of the subject's gaze showed that the movements of the right hand were more influenced by visual monitoring than those of the left hand. The results were interpreted as showing that the between-hand differences in skilled movements are mainly due to the different efficiency in the use of visual monitoring.     

The relation between response-specificity, S-R compatibility, foreperiod duration and muscle-tension in a target aiming task

Three experiments are reported aiming at a further understanding of the effect of response-specificity, operationalized as the degree of commonality of direction of movements. In a previous study, Spijkers (1987) has claimed that response-specificity affects the readiness of the motor system and is not related to response-selection processes. These suppositions were generally confirmed in experiments 1 and 2 respectively. Common to both experiments were the variables average movement velocity and response-specificity. In experiment 1 the effect of the additional variable foreperiod duration was found to interact with that of response-specificity, hereby confirming its expected relation to the muscular system. The effect of response-specificity did not interact with that of spatial S-R compatibility in the second experiment, but also failed to show a main effect. The third experiment examined the supposed relation of response-specificity more directly through manipulation of the muscle-tension of the responding limb. The predicted form of the interaction between the effect of response-specificity and muscle-tension was confirmed which provided additional evidence for the interpretation of response-specificity effects in terms of differential muscular activation.     

Multifractality in postural sway supports quiet eye training in aiming tasks: A study of golf putting

The ‘quiet eye’ (QE) approach to visually-guided aiming behavior invests fully in perceptual information's potential to organize coordinated action. Sports psychologists refer to QE as the stillness of the eyes during aiming tasks and increasingly into self- and externally-paced tasks. Amidst the ‘noisy’ fluctuations of the athlete's body, quiet eyes might leave fewer saccadic interruptions to the coupling between postural sway and optic flow. Postural sway exhibits fluctuations whose multifractal structure serves as a robust predictor of visual and haptic perceptual responses. Postural sway generates optic flow centered on an individual's eye height. We predicted that perturbing the eye height by attaching wooden blocks below the feet would perturb the putting more so in QE-trained participants than participants trained technically. We also predicted that QE's efficacy and responses to perturbation would depend on multifractality in postural sway. Specifically, we predicted that less multifractality would predict more adaptive responses to the perturbation and higher putting accuracy. Results showed that lower multifractality led to more accurate putts, and the perturbation of eye height led to less accurate putts, particularly for QE-trained participants. Models of radial error (i.e., the distance between the ball's final position and the hole) indicated that lower estimates of multifractality due to nonlinearity coincided with a more adaptive response to the perturbation. These results suggest that reduced multifractality may act in a context-sensitive manner to restrain motoric degrees of freedom to achieve the task goal.     

Effects of information-presentation mode and task complexity on the learning of probabilistic inference tasks

Learning of two-cue probabilistic inference tasks was studied in a 2 level of information-presentation mode (visual access to an ordered array of cue values vs. no such access) by 2 levels of task complexity (linear vs. nonlinear cue-criterion relations). The results replicated earlier findings in that performance was better in the linear tasks than in the nonlinear ones, and also showed that visual access to an ordered array of cue values facilitated performance, viz. there were no interactions. The results were interpreted as evidence that at least part of the suboptimal performance in ordinary experiments of this kind is due to cognitive strain introduced by the lack of control of the sequence of instances of cue-criterion pairs.     

The influence of professional expertise and task complexity upon the potency of the contextual interference effect

The contextual interference (CI) effect has been investigated through practice schedule manipulations within both basic and applied studies. Despite extensive research activity there is little conclusive evidence regarding the optimal practice structure of real world manipulative tasks in professional training settings. The present study therefore assessed the efficacy of practising simple and complex knot-tying skills in professional fire-fighters training. Forty-eight participants were quasi-randomly assigned to various practice schedules along the CI continuum. Twenty-four participants were students selected for their novice knot-tying capabilities and 24 were experienced fire-fighters who were more 'experienced knot-tiers'. They were assessed for skill acquisition, retention and transfer effects having practiced tying knots classified as simple or complex. Surprisingly, high levels of CI scheduling enhance learning for novices even when practising a complex task. The findings also revealed that CI benefits are most apparent as learners engage in tasks high in transfer distality. In conclusion, complexity and experience are mediating factors influencing the potency of the CI training effect in real-world settings.     

Aging and judgments of duration: Effects of task complexity and method of estimation

The effects of aging on judgments of short temporal durations were explored using the prospective paradigm and the methods of verbal estimation and production. Younger and older adults performed a perceptual judgment task at five levels of complexity for periods of 30, 60, and 120 sec. Participants either continued to perform the task for a specified interval (production) or were stopped and then verbally estimated the interval. Older adults gave shorter verbal estimates and longer productions than did younger adults. The methods of verbal estimation and production yielded approximately equal duration judgment ratios once range effects were taken into account. Task complexity had little effect. The major conclusion is that duration judgment ratios decrease from younger to older adults when the intervals are filled with a mental task.     

Aging and judgments of duration: effects of task complexity and method of estimation.

The effects of aging on judgments of short temporal durations were explored using the prospective paradigm and the methods of verbal estimation and production. Younger and older adults performed a perceptual judgment task at five levels of complexity for periods of 30, 60, and 120 sec. Participants either continued to perform the task for a specified interval (production) or were stopped and then verbally estimated the interval. Older adults gave shorter verbal estimates and longer productions than did younger adults. The methods of verbal estimation and production yielded approximately equal duration judgment ratios once range effects were taken into account. Task complexity had little effect. The major conclusion is that duration judgment ratios decrease from younger to older adults when the intervals are filled with a mental task.     

Practice and assimilation effects in a multilimb aiming task

When two limbs are required to move different distances simultaneously, assimilation effects are shown: The shorter distance limb tends to overshoot the target, whereas the longer distance limb undershoots. The effect of practice on assimilation effects was studied in two experiments, using a simultaneous four-limb aiming task. When subjects were required to move their left limbs a shorter distance than the right (5 cm vs. 9 cm), the right limbs moved a lesser distance and had greater variable and overall errors relative to a group required to move all limbs the same distance (9 cm). Practice reduced assimilation effects in the lower limbs, but spatial assimilations were present throughout 125 acquisition trials with KR and 50 no-KR transfer trials, spanning 24 hours. When the upper limbs were required to move a greater distance than the lower limbs (15 cm vs. 9 cm), the lower limbs showed longer distances and increased overall errors early in practice compared to the lower limbs of a group required to move all limbs 9 cm. With practice, the between-group differences decreased, with no assimilation effects shown on the transfer trials. The results suggest that neural crosstalk is greater between left and right sides than between upper and lower limbs. Results are discussed in light of the functional cerebral space model of simultaneous actions.     

Processing two tasks with varying task order: central stage duration influences central processing order

In a recent study, Sigman and Dehaene (2006, PLoS Biology, 4, 1227–1238) reported that perceptual processing duration influences processing order of two tasks in the psychological refractory period paradigm (PRP). The present study examines whether the duration of central processes also influences processing order. For this purpose, we employed letter tasks with different central processing durations and varied task order in the PRP. In one part of the experiment, a tone discrimination task was combined with a similar time-consuming letter discrimination task. In the other part, the tone task was combined with a more time-consuming letter task, which required a mental rotation of the letter thereby prolonging central processing. If the duration of central processes influences processing order, participants should perform the tone task first more often when it is presented with the more time-consuming mental rotation task, than when it is presented with the similar time-consuming letter task. The results clearly confirm this prediction and thus show that not only perceptual processing duration but also central processing duration affects processing order in a dual-task situation. We suggest that the reported effect mirrors a tendency of participants to minimize total reaction time to both tasks by reducing slack time.     

Quiet eye training improves throw and catch performance in children

ObjectivesTo compare quiet eye training (QET) and ‘traditional’ technical training (TT) interventions for a throw and catch task in children.DesignThis pilot study adopted a between groups randomized control design.MethodSixteen, 10 year-old typically developing children performed 10 pre- and 10 post-test trials before and after QET or TT, while wearing a Mobile Eye gaze registration system. Both interventions consisted of three video demonstrations (focusing on the throw, the catch, and linking the throw and catch) followed by a series of practice trials. QET videos emphasized gaze strategy instructions whereas TT videos emphasized traditional primary school throwing and catching instructions.ResultsSignificant interaction effects for performance and quiet eye durations revealed that only the QET group significantly lengthened QE durations, which contributed to significant improvements in catching from pre- to post-test.ConclusionsQET may be an effective method for improving throwing and catching skills in typically developing children.     

Motor expertise and performance in spatial tasks: A meta-analysis

The present study aimed to provide a summary of findings relevant to the influence of motor expertise on performance in spatial tasks and to examine potential moderators of this effect. Studies of relevance were those in which individuals involved in activities presumed to require motor expertise were compared to non-experts in such activities. A final set of 62 effect sizes from 33 samples was included in a multilevel meta-analysis. The results showed an overall advantage in favor of motor experts in spatial tasks (d = 0.38). However, the magnitude of that effect was moderated by expert type (athlete, open skills/ball sports, runner/cyclist, gymnast/dancers, musicians), stimulus type (2D, blocks, bodies, others), test category (mental rotation, spatial perception, spatial visualization), specific test (Mental Rotations Test, generic mental rotation, disembedding, rod-and-frame test, other), and publication status. These findings are discussed in the context of embodied cognition and the potential role of activities requiring motor expertise in promoting good spatial performance.     

Coupling of eye, finger, elbow, and shoulder movements during manual aiming

Temporal and spatial coupling of point of gaze (PG) and movements of the finger, elbow, and shoulder during a speeded aiming task were examined. Ten participants completed 40-cm aiming movements with the right arm, in a situation that allowed free movement of the eyes, head, arm, and trunk. On the majority of trials, a large initial saccade undershot the target slightly, and 1 or more smaller corrective saccades brought the eyes to the target position. The finger, elbow, and shoulder exhibited a similar pattern of undershooting their final positions, followed by small corrective movements. Eye movements usually preceded limb movements, and the eyes always arrived at the target well in advance of the finger. There was a clear temporal coupling between primary saccade completion and peak acceleration of the finger, elbow, and shoulder. The initiation of limb-segment movement usually occurred in a proximal-to-distal pattern. Increased variability in elbow and shoulder position as the movement progressed may have served to reduce variability in finger position. The spatial-temporal coupling of PG with the 3 limb segments was optimal for the pick up of visual information about the position of the finger and the target late in the movement.     

An improved measurement technique for human operator stability in aiming tasks

A technique is presented for field measurement of human operator stability in an aiming task. The small angular displacements of the aiming axis are measured by photographing a part of the target as reflected by a mirror mounted on the aiming device.     

Aging, task complexity, and efficiency modes: the influence of working memory involvement on age differences in response times for verbal and visuospatial tasks

We examined the information-processing functions (response-time x load) of younger and older adults for two verbal and one visuo-spatial task; each task was implemented in a baseline and a high-complexity condition. Heightened complexity transformed the baseline functions in either an additive or a multiplicative fashion. The processing efficiency of older adults was defined as the old-young ratio of the slopes of the load functions. Three levels of efficiency could be distinguished. The first level, with an age-related slowing factor of about 1.2, consisted of low-complexity verbal processing and additive-complexity verbal processing. The second level, associated with a slowing factor of about 1.6, consisted of a mixture of verbal-high-multiplicative-complexity processing and visuo-spatial-low-complexity processing. The third level, with a slowing factor of about 4, consisted of visuo-spatial processing of high multiplicative complexity. The results go against any common factor theory of aging. Instead, they suggest that a shift from a higher to a lower mode of efficiency is triggered by a greater degree of working memory involvement.     

Perceptual-attentional and motor-intentional bias in near and far space

Spatial bias demonstrated in tasks such as line-bisection may stem from perceptual-attentional (PA) "where" and motor-intentional (MI) "aiming" influences. We tested normal participants' line bisection performance in the presence of an asymmetric visual distracter with a video apparatus designed to dissociate PA from MI bias. An experimenter stood as a distractor to the left or right of a video monitor positioned in either near or far space, where participants viewed lines and a laser point they directed under (1) natural and (2) mirror-reversed conditions. Each trial started with the pointer positioned at either the top left or top right corner of the screen, and alternated thereafter. Data analysis indicated that participants made primarily PA leftward errors in near space, but not in far space. Furthermore, PA, but not MI, bias increased bilaterally in the direction of distraction. In contrast, MI, but not PA, bias was shifted bilaterally in the direction of startside. Results support the conclusion that a primarily PA left sided bias in near space is consistent with right hemisphere spatial attentional dominance. A bottom-up visual distractor specifically affected PA "where" spatial bias while top-down motor cuing influenced MI "aiming" bias.     

The effects of eye movements, age, and expertise on inattentional blindness

Based on various stimuli, the findings for the inattentional blindness paradigm suggest that many observers do not perceive an unexpected object in a dynamic setting. In a first experiment, inattentional blindness was combined with eye tracking data from children. Observers who did not notice the unexpected object in the basketball game test by spent on average as much time (about one second) looking at the unexpected object as those subjects who did perceive it. As such, individual differences that are responsible for the recognition of unexpected objects have to be found as further indicators. In a second experiment, the expert-novice paradigm was used to show that the probability of seeing an unexpected object can be increased with specific previous experience. The results in the same task indicate significant differences between basketball experts and basketball novices. The ages of the subjects in both experiments are discussed in connection with the inattentional blindness paradigm.     

Expertise reversal effect in a pen-tablet-based learning environment: The role of learningcentered emotions in the interplay between learner expertise and task complexity

The study investigated interactions between learner expertise and task complexity evaluated from both cognitive and affective perspectives. One hundred and seventy-three students, both novices and advanced learners, were asked to learn Japanese writing in a pen-tablet-based digital learning environment with varying task complexity levels. Cognitive load and learning-centred emotions were measured at intervals during learning, while writing performance was monitored by runtime tracking. Results indicated that while advanced learners performed better than novices across the range of task complexity, the moderate task complexity was shown to be superior in enhancing performance for both levels of expertise. Results for learning-centred emotions showed that advanced learners reported lower enjoyment and higher frustration when completing the low complexity task, whereas the moderately complex task was reported to be the most enjoyable and less frustrating for these learners. No significant difference in emotions was found across levels of task complexity for novices. Finally, a constructed composite indicator of cognitive-affective efficiency of instructional conditions showed a significant interaction between levels of learner expertise and task complexity primarily caused by affective factors.