Central and peripheral perceptual mechanisms

Sports performance is usually based on a sophisticated interplay of perception and action control. For central perception, it seems that, as first observed by Vickers (1996), a prolonged final fixation on relevant observation points before the start of a movement is significant (the so-called Quiet Eye, QE). In throwing studies (see video), we were able to demonstrate the causal relationship between QE duration and motor performance by manipulating the QE duration experimentally (Klostermann et al., 2013). Furthermore, with the inhibition hypothesis (Klostermann et al, 2014), we offered a recognised extension of existing explanations of the QE phenomenon and we succeeded in empirically substantiating the predicted dependence of QE duration on motor selection requirements (Klostermann, 2020). For peripheral perception – i.e. the ability to perceive objects or movements without looking at them – we demonstrated in a series of basic experiments with the multiple-object-tracking paradigm that the use of peripheral vision is functional in dual tasks and that this functionality is affected by the viewing angle to peripheral targets (Vater et al., 2017a,b), by visual distractors surrounding these objects (crowding: Vater et al., 2017b) as well as by executed eye movements (Vater et al., 2020).

Selected Publications:

Klostermann, A. (2020). Perception and action in a far-aiming task: Inhibition demands and the functionality of the Quiet Eye in motor performance. Psychology of Sport and Exercise, 50, 101736. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.psychsport.2020.101736

Klostermann, A., Kredel, R. & Hossner, E.-J. (2013). The «Quiet Eye» and motor performance: Task demands matter! Journal of Experimental Psychology: Human Perception & Performance, 39(5), 1270–1278. https://doi.org/10.1037/a0031499

Klostermann, A., Kredel, R. & Hossner, E.-J. (2014). On the interaction of attentional focus and gaze: The Quiet Eye inhibits focus-related performance decrements. Journal of Sport & Exercise Psychology, 36(4), 392–400. https://doi.org/10.1123/jsep.2013-0273

Vater, C., Klostermann, A., Kredel, R. & Hossner, E.-J. (2020). Detecting motion changes with peripheral vision: On the superiority of fixating over smooth-pursuit tracking. Vision Research, 171, 46–52. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.visres.2020.04.006

Vater, C., Kredel, R. & Hossner, E.-J. (2017a). Detecting target changes in multiple object tracking with peripheral vision: More pronounced eccentricity effects for changes in form than in motion. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Human Perception and Performance, 43(5), 903–913. https://doi.org/10.1037/xhp0000376

Vater, C., Kredel, R. & Hossner, E.-J. (2017b). Disentangling vision and attention in multiple-object tracking: How crowding and collisions affect gaze anchoring and dual-task performance. Journal of Vision, 17(5):21, 1–13. https://doi.org/10.1167/17.5.21

Literature:

Vickers, J. N. (1996). Visual control when aiming at a far target. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Human Perception and Performance, 22(2), 342–354. https://doi.org/10.1037//0096-1523.22.2.342

Contact:

Ernst-Joachim Hossner

André Klostermann

Christian Vater