A STUDY OF QUIET EYE’S PHENOMENON IN THE SHOOTING TRIAL OF COMBINED EVENT L. Mallia, F. Galli, D. Fegatelli, F. Giancamilli, A. Chirico, F. Lucidi Dep. of Psychology of Development and Socialization Processes, Sapienza University of Rome, Italy   S.Pecci, G.Cardelli Coaching Education Unit Italian Modern Pentathlon Federation

THE QUIET EYE IN SPORT The particular gaze behaviour called "Quiet Eye“ (QE) has been studied in sport since 1996 by Joan Vickers. This phenomenon is defined as "the final fixation or tracking gaze that is located on a specific location or object (a relevant target) in the task environment within 3° of visual angle (or less) for a minimum of 100 ms (prior to the execution of a critical phase of movement)” (Vickers, 2016).

QUIET EYE AND PERFORMANCE IN TARGETING TASKS Archery, Badminton serve, Basketball free throw, Basketball field shot, Billiards, Darts, Football quarterback, Golf putting, Ice hockey penalty shot, Shooting–pistol, Shooting–rifle, Soccer penalty kick QE discriminates successful trials from insuccessful trials (LONGER QE duration = BETTER Performance) The elite athletes and non-expert athletes show different QE (Elite athletes show longer QE than Non Elite athletes) The QE can be trained with advantage on performance. (i.e. Vine & Wilson, 2010 or Vickers, 2016)

THE RESEARCH The research considered the phenomenon of QE during the shooting section of “combined event”. Rules: The shooting involves pistol shooting in series at 10 meters in a range equipped with targets each of the four series of shooting being followed by running for 800 meters. Each series consists of hitting five targets with an unlimited number of shots in a maximum time of 50 seconds on a target with a valid zone of dimension 59.5mm (score ≥ 7.3) (UIPM, 2014). So, unlike other targeting tasks (the best performance = the best accuracy), the best performance depends on two different parameters: Accuracy: Right Shot is ≥7.3 (max= 10.9) Time: The shortest time to perform the task matches the best perfomance I think you already know the rules of this sport, so we can skip this part

AIM of Study The purpose of our study is to investigate the QE phenomenon (the final fixation that is located on alignment of foresight and rearsight on the target area) measured immediately before the start of a critical phase of movement (snap the trigger of the handgun) during the shooting of combined event, considering different 1) EXPERTISE (elite athletes VS non elite athletes) 2) PERFORMANCE (best shots VS worst shots)

PARTECIPANTS 31 athletes registered with Italian Federation of Modern Pentathlon (FIPM), were divided in two groups with different expertise: “ELITE” GROUP: 18 experienced athletes of the Italian National Team of Modern Pentathlon (9 Male; 9 Female). These athletes were between 17 and 30 years old (mean age =24.3 years; SD= 4.76). “NON ELITE” GROUP: 13 young athletes of a local Pentathlon Club (9 Male; 4 Female). These athletes were between 14 and 19 years old (mean age= 15.7 years, SD= 1.53).

PROCEDURES and INSTRUMENTS The participants performed five “combined event” competitions, namely, 5 trials X 4 series of shootings (20 series). The rest time between series was about 45 seconds and the rest time between trials was 3 minutes. All the athletes played their five trials in ecological conditions: Using an indoor shooting arena within the “School of Sport” of CONI, in Rome; Shooting with their own equipment during a training session time; Considering every trial like a combined event competition During the shooting trials, the athletes worn a mobile Eye Tracking System (the SMI-Eye Tracking Glasses (ETG), version 2.0) consisting in a pair of glasses equipped with an external camera to record the athlete’s visual field, and two internal cameras to record eye movements (saccades, blinks, and fixations). The ETG is connected with a laptop that allow us recording the data. This is an example of one of our recording session. The green circle in the laptop is the fixation point of the athlete in real time. During the data analysis session, as you can see in the video, the circle change its color and its size increase related to the fixation time. The number that you can see in the centre of the circle is an id number given to each fixation. When the athlete start a fixation, the circle starts to increase its dimension, until the athlete stop to fix; when the athlete start to fix another point the circle appear in the monitor in the new location, with a new id number.

QUIET EYE DURATION (QED) RELATIVE QUIET EYE DURATION (RQED) MEASURES ATHLETES’PERFORMANCE ACCURACY : RIGHT SCORE ≥ 7.3, MISSING SCORE ≤ 7.2 TIME (in milliseconds): the time occurred between one shot and the previous one (Shot Duration) QUIET EYE DURATION (QED) The duration of the last fixation on “foresigh-rearsight” lasting at least 100 milliseconds occurred before each shot. RELATIVE QUIET EYE DURATION (RQED) The ratio between the QED and the shot duration. TIME and RQED are not available for the first shot of each series. This kind of choice is because a crucial aspect of the performance, in the “combined event”, is the time spent for the athlete to complete each shooting series.

METHOD AND DATA ANALYSIS For every athlete: Five “BEST SHOTS”: the five fastest shots classified as “Right” (≥ 7.3). When two shots had the same duration, the most accurate one. Five “WORST SHOTS” : the five slowest shots classified as “Missing”(≤ 7.2). When two shots had the same duration, the less accurate one. The mean Quiet Eye Duration and the mean Relative Quiet Eye Duration during the “best” and the “worst” performance of élite and novice athletes were compared using a mixed ANOVA design. Two 2X2 mixed ANOVA were performed using SPSS (Version 22). Both mixed ANOVA models considered as independent variables: a “within subjects” factor, namely the “best” versus the “worst” performance, a “between subjects” factor, namely élite versus novice athletes. The dependent variables of the ANOVAs were respectively the Quiet Eye Duration and the Relative Quiet Eye Duration.

RESULTS about QE Duration A significant effect for the “within subjects” factor “best versus worst” (F(1,29)= 16.79, p<.001). The athletes, both expert and novice, showed a shorter Quiet Eye Duration (mean=1102.20 ms; SD=772.45 ms) during the “best” shots than the “worst” (mean=1480.07 ms; SD=1148.50 ms). A significant effect for the “between subjects” factor “competitive level” (F(1,29)=12.69; p=.001). Novice athletes showed a longer Quiet Eye Duration (mean=1890.83 ms; SD=1168.93 ms) than élite athletes (mean=858.03 ms; SD=343.28 ms). CHART

RESULTS about Relative QE Duration A significant interaction effect between the “within subjects” factor (i.e. performance) and the “between subjects” (i.e. competitive level of the athletes) (F(1,29)= 10.39; p=.003). The novice athletes showed a significant longer Relative Quite Eye Duration when performed their “best” shots (mean=46,52 %; SD= 26 %) than when they performed their “worst” shots (mean=34,2 %; SD=24 %). Whereas the expert athletes did not show any significant difference in their Relative Quiet Eye Duration comparing their “best” shots (mean=29,99 %; SD=14 %) with their “worst” shots (mean= 31,52%; DS=13 %). Afterwards, there is a significant main effect of the “within subject” factor “best/ worst” (F(1,29)=6.32; p=.018), while no significant effect for the “between subjects” factor was observed (F (1,29) = 2.15; p = 0.154). Main effect vuol dire tutti e due i gruppi considerati un unico e ci sono differenze nel QED relativo fra migliore e peggior colpo.

DISCUSSION Past literaure, focusing on different sports, shows Longer QE duration = Better Performance Elite athletes show longer QE than Non Elite athletes; In our study was found an inverse relationship between QE duration and performance; taking in account the relative QE duration, instead, the relationship was positive related, but only in novice athletes. This results can be explained in different ways…

DISCUSSION Athletes during combined events have to balance the two variables of success (accuracy and time). Expert athletes could manage the execution with a major confidence in the accuracy (due to their expertise), focusing on the execution time. In fact an expert athlete can easier realize a 7.3 shot than a novice. Furthermore, it is likley that elite athletes show a self pace during the shooting action consequence of automated gesture, while novice athletes use more volountary and controlled processes during their performance. These volountary processes need more efforts in controlling the action (like the final fixation that is located on alignment of foresight and rearsight on the target area), making the behavior slower than an automated process. So, this controlled behavior could be useful for the novice athletes but harmful for the elite athletes.

Thank you for your attention!!! dario.fegatelli@gmail.com Would you like to improve your performance?