An investigation into the expert performance approach using tests of visual and motion perception

Abstract

The Expert-Performance Approach suggests that in order to gain the most accurate reflection of human behaviour, scientific experiments must employ designs that represent the natural environment as closely as possible. By adopting this approach, the ability to identify expert-novice differences in measures (such as visual ability) is enhanced. Too often in the sporting literature this has been neglected, and may explain why the research on visual differences between athletes and non-athletes is so ambiguous. The present study aims to address this.
60 athletes performed a series of visual and motion tests on a computer. For each test, between 6-9 versions were run, with the response stimulus being modified in each version so that it reflected either the sport of the athlete (associate), an opposing sport (dissociate), or unbiased source (neutral).
The results indicate the selective attention, motion perception, and the ability to discriminate direction of motion were all greater in the associate tests than in the dissociate tests. There was no difference in divided attention.
These results lend support for the adoption of the Expert-Performance Approach in sports testing. Athletes show superior visual and perceptual functioning for stimuli which reflect their natural environment best.