How Task Constraints Influence the Gaze and Motor Behaviours of Elite-Level Gymnasts

Joana Barreto, Filipe Casanova, César Peixoto, Bradley Fawver and Andrew Mark Williams
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Joana Barreto: Universidade de Lisboa, Faculdade de Motricidade Humana, Laboratório de Perícia no Desporto, CIPER, Cruz Quebrada Dafundo, 1495-751 Lisboa, Portugal
Filipe Casanova: Faculty of Physical Education and Sport, University Lusófona of Humanities and Technology, 1749-024 Lisbon, Portugal
César Peixoto: Universidade de Lisboa, Faculdade de Motricidade Humana, Laboratório de Perícia no Desporto, Cruz Quebrada Dafundo, 1495-751 Lisboa, Portugal
Bradley Fawver: US Army Medical Research Directorate-West, Walter Reed Army Institute of Research, Joint Base Lewis McChord, Pierce, WA 98433, USA
Andrew Mark Williams: Department of Health and Kinesiology, College of Health, University of Utah, Salt Lake City, UT 84112, USA

IJERPH, 2021, vol. 18, issue 13, 1-12

Abstract: Perception-action coupling is fundamental to effective motor behaviour in complex sports such as gymnastics. We examined the gaze and motor behaviours of 10 international level gymnasts when performing two skills on the mini-trampoline that matched the performance demands of elite competition. The presence and absence of a vaulting table in each skill served as a task-constraint factor, while we compared super-elite and elite groups. We measured visual search behaviours and kinematic variables during the approach run phase. The presence of a vaulting table influenced gaze behaviour only in the elite gymnasts, who showed significant differences in the time spent fixating on the mini-trampoline, when compared to super-elite gymnasts. Moreover, different approach run characteristics were apparent across the two different gymnastic tasks, irrespective of the level of expertise, and take-off velocity was influenced by the skill being executed across all gymnasts. Task constraints and complexity influence gaze behaviours differed across varying levels of expertise in gymnastics, even within a sample of international level athletes. It appears that the time spent fixating their gazes on the right areas of interest during the approach run is crucial to higher-level performance and therefore higher scores in competition, particularly on the mini-trampoline with vaulting table.

Keywords: expertise; inertial sensors; kinematic analysis; perception-action coupling; performance; visual fixation (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I I1 I3 Q Q5 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2021
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