Basketball referee's gaze behavior and stimulus selection in relation to visual angle perspective and officiating mechanics and expertise.
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.21134/eurjhm.2023.50.2Keywords:
Visual scan patterns, officiating, decision-making, perception, visionAbstract
This work aimed to describe the visual search behavior of basketball referees. Eight national and eight regional basketball referees took part in the study. The participants watched five projected gameplay video clips twice from different perspectives: lead and trail referee positions. Dependent variables were based on the extrinsic ocular motility (number of fixations, average fixation time, and total fixation time on the selected areas of interest), and the independent variables were expertise (expert vs novice) and visual angle (lead vs trail referee position). Most gaze behavior differences were found between the lead and trail positions (total fixation time: F = 10.79; p < 0.01; ƞp² = 0.435; average fixation time: F = 16.23; p < 0.01; ƞp² = 0.537). It was found that basketball referees mainly follow a target strategy on the attacking player with the ball and a visual pivot on the players' trunk. Expertise does not determine the number or time of fixations, but it does influence fixation location.
Downloads
Metrics
References
Al-Abood, S. A., Bennett, S. J., Hernandez, F. M., Ashford, D., & Davids, K. (2002). Effect of verbal instructions and image size on visual search strategies in basketball free throw shooting. Journal of Sports Sciences, 20(3), 271–278. https://doi.org/10.1080/026404102317284817
Bard, C., Fleury, M., Carrière, L., & Hallé, M. (1980). Analysis of gymnastics judges’ visual search. Research Quarterly for Exercise and Sport, 51(2), 267–273. https://doi.org/10.1080/02701367.1980.10605195
Brennan, S. E., Chen, X., Dickinson, C. A., Neider, M. B., & Zelinsky, G. J. (2008). Coordinating cognition: The costs and benefits of shared gaze during collaborative search. Cognition, 106(3), 1465–1477. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cognition.2007.05.012
Catteeuw, P., Helsen, W., Gilis, B., Van Roie, E., & Wagemans, J. (2009). Visual Scan Patterns and Decision-Making Skills of Expert Assistant Referees in Offside Situations. Journal of Sport and Exercise Psychology, 31(6), 786–797. https://doi.org/10.1123/jsep.31.6.786
Fasold, F., Noël, B., Wolf, F., & Hüttermann, S. (2018). Coordinated gaze behaviour of handball referees: a practical exploration with focus on the methodical implementation. Movement & Sport Sciences - Science & Motricité, 102, 71–79. https://doi.org/10.1051/sm/2018029
FIBA. (2010). Official Basketball Rules 2010. Referees’ Manual: Two-Person Officiating. FIBA Central Board. http://www.basketref.com/documents/files/JB/twopersonofficiating2010.pdf
Frank, C., & Schack, T. (2016). In my mind’s (quiet) eye: a perceptual-cognitive approach to the Quiet Eye – comment on Vickers. Current Issues in Sport Science (CISS), 2016(1). https://doi.org/10.15203/CISS_2016.107
Gegenfurtner, A., Lehtinen, E., & Säljö, R. (2011). Expertise Differences in the Comprehension of Visualizations: a Meta-Analysis of Eye-Tracking Research in Professional Domains. Educational Psychology Review, 23(4), 523–552. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10648-011-9174-7
Green, D. G. (1970). Regional variations in the visual acuity for interference fringes on the retina. The Journal of Physiology, 207(2), 351–356. https://doi.org/10.1113/jphysiol.1970.sp009065
Hancock, D. J., & Ste-Marie, D. M. (2013). Gaze behaviors and decision making accuracy of higher- and lower-level ice hockey referees. Psychology of Sport and Exercise, 14(1), 66–71. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.psychsport.2012.08.002
Hüttermann, S., Memmert, D., Simons, D. J., & Bock, O. (2013). Fixation Strategy Influences the Ability to Focus Attention on Two Spatially Separate Objects. PLoS ONE, 8(6), e65673. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0065673
IBM Corp. (2016). IBM SPSS Statistics for Windows (24.0).
Idrees, S., Baumann, M. P., Franke, F., Münch, T. A., & Hafed, Z. M. (2020). Perceptual saccadic suppression starts in the retina. Nature Communications, 11(1), 1977. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-020-15890-w
Luis, V., Canelo, A., Morenas, J., Gómez-Valadés, J. M., & Gómez, J. S. (2015). Comportamiento visual de árbitros de futbol en situaciones de fuera de juego / Referees’ Visual Behaviour During Offside Situations In Football. pp. 325-338. RIMCAFD, 58(2015), 325–338. https://doi.org/10.15366/rimcafd2015.58.008
Mann, D. T. Y., Williams, A. M., Ward, P., & Janelle, C. M. (2007). Perceptual-Cognitive Expertise in Sport: A Meta-Analysis. Journal of Sport and Exercise Psychology, 29(4), 457–478. https://doi.org/10.1123/jsep.29.4.457
Martínez de Quel, Ó., & Bennett, S. J. (2019). Perceptual-cognitive expertise in combat sports: a narrative review and a model of perception-action. [Habilidades perceptivo-cognitivas en deportes de combate: una revisión narrativa y un modelo de percepción-acción]. RICYDE. Revista Internacional de Ciencias Del Deporte, 15(58), 323–338. https://doi.org/10.5232/ricyde2019.05802
Meng, F.-W., Yao, Z.-F., Chang, E. C., & Chen, Y.-L. (2019). Team sport expertise shows superior stimulus-driven visual attention and motor inhibition. PLOS ONE, 14(5), e0217056. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0217056
Milazzo, N., Farrow, D., & Fournier, J. F. (2016). Effect of Implicit Perceptual-Motor Training on Decision-Making Skills and Underpinning Gaze Behavior in Combat Athletes. Perceptual and Motor Skills, 123(1), 300–323. https://doi.org/10.1177/0031512516656816
Millslagle, D. G., Smith, M. S., & Hines, B. B. (2013). Visual Gaze Behavior of Near-Expert and Expert Fast Pitch Softball Umpires Calling a Pitch. Journal of Strength and Conditioning Research, 27(5), 1188–1195. https://doi.org/10.1519/JSC.0b013e318269ab15
Moore, L. J., Harris, D. J., Sharpe, B. T., Vine, S. J., & Wilson, M. R. (2019). Perceptual-cognitive expertise when refereeing the scrum in rugby union. Journal of Sports Sciences, 37(15), 1778–1786. https://doi.org/10.1080/02640414.2019.1594568
Nakamoto, H., & Mori, S. (2008). Sport-Specific Decision-Making in a Go/Nogo Reaction Task: Difference among Nonathletes and Baseball and Basketball Players. Perceptual and Motor Skills, 106(1), 163–170. https://doi.org/10.2466/pms.106.1.163-170
Neider, M. B., Chen, X., Dickinson, C. A., Brennan, S. E., & Zelinsky, G. J. (2010). Coordinating spatial referencing using shared gaze. Psychonomic Bulletin & Review, 17(5), 718–724. https://doi.org/10.3758/PBR.17.5.718
Pizzera, A., Möller, C., & Plessner, H. (2018). Gaze Behavior of Gymnastics Judges: Where Do Experienced Judges and Gymnasts Look While Judging? Research Quarterly for Exercise and Sport, 89(1), 112–119. https://doi.org/10.1080/02701367.2017.1412392
Reina, R., Moreno, F. J., & Sanz, D. (2007). Visual Behavior and Motor Responses of Novice and Experienced Wheelchair Tennis Players Relative to the Service Return. Adapted Physical Activity Quarterly, 24(3), 254–271. https://doi.org/10.1123/apaq.24.3.254
Renshaw, I., Davids, K., Araújo, D., Lucas, A., Roberts, W. M., Newcombe, D. J., & Franks, B. (2019). Evaluating Weaknesses of “Perceptual-Cognitive Training” and “Brain Training” Methods in Sport: An Ecological Dynamics Critique. Frontiers in Psychology, 9. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2018.02468
Schnyder, U., Koedijker, J. M., Kredel, R., & Hossner, E.-J. (2017). Gaze behaviour in offside decision-making in football. German Journal of Exercise and Sport Research, 47(2), 103–109. https://doi.org/10.1007/s12662-017-0449-0
Spitz, J., Put, K., Wagemans, J., Williams, A. M., & Helsen, W. F. (2016). Visual search behaviors of association football referees during assessment of foul play situations. Cognitive Research: Principles and Implications, 1(1), 12. https://doi.org/10.1186/s41235-016-0013-8
Trabulsi, J., Norouzi, K., Suurmets, S., Storm, M., & Ramsøy, T. Z. (2021). Optimizing Fixation Filters for Eye-Tracking on Small Screens. Frontiers in Neuroscience, 15. https://doi.org/10.3389/fnins.2021.578439
Vater, C., Kredel, R., & Hossner, E.-J. (2017). Examining the functionality of peripheral vision: From fundamental understandings to applied sport science. Current Issues in Sport Science (CISS). https://doi.org/10.15203/CISS_2017.010
Vater, C., Williams, A. M., & Hossner, E.-J. (2019). What do we see out of the corner of our eye? The role of visual pivots and gaze anchors in sport. International Review of Sport and Exercise Psychology, 13(1), 81–103. https://doi.org/10.1080/1750984X.2019.1582082
Wolfe, J. M. (2018). Visual Search. In Stevens’ Handbook of Experimental Psychology and Cognitive Neuroscience (pp. 1–55). John Wiley & Sons, Inc. https://doi.org/10.1002/9781119170174.epcn213
Ziv, G., Lidor, R., Zach, S., Brams, S., & Helsen, W. F. (2020). Gaze Behavior of Referees in Sport—A Review. Frontiers in Sports and Active Living, 2. https://doi.org/10.3389/fspor.2020.572891
Downloads
Published
Issue
Section
License

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.
This journal is covered under the CC BY-NC-ND license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/). The rights of printing and reproduction by any way and means are the property of the European Journal of Human Movement, and by extension of each one of the authors of the articles.