Quiet eye

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Quiet eye (QE) is a period of extended visual attention that helps in optimizing the control and execution of motor skills, particularly in high-pressure situations or tasks that require precise movements. In simple terms, it is a technique reported to improve outcomes in various tasks requiring human visual attention. [1] [2] Some variables relating to QE include location, duration, onset (when it starts), offset (when it ends), and the person's skill level.

Contents

Quiet eye has been the subject of several articles in journalistic periodicals, [3] [4] [5] and of scientific studies that evaluate it in relation to activities such as sports and surgical training. [6] [7] [8] A meta-analysis conducted twenty years after the initial QE study was published has identified the QE as one of three gaze behaviours that reliably distinguish professionals from non-experts. [9] Experts had a QE duration on average that was roughly 62% longer than that of non-experts. Moreover, there were 580 QE records discovered in all, demonstrating the region's tremendous expansion in recent years. [10]

The concept of quiet eye is credited to Joan Vickers, who had studied the topic since the 1980s.

History

Professor Joan Vickers is credited as the originator of quiet eye theory, [1] [4] and has been working on the topic since the early 1980s. [5] Vickers examined the gaze patterns of national-level basketball players during free throw shots, finding that expert players maintained a longer final fixation before beginning their movements compared to non-expert players. Hence, the Quiet Eye was initially defined as the tracking gaze that is directed towards a specific location or object relevant to the motor task at hand. [2]

In 2007, the Quiet Eye was defined more specifically by Vickers. It is characterized as the final fixation or tracking gaze fixated within a 3° visual angle or less, at a specific location or object in the visuomotor environment, lasting at least 100ms. [2]

Later, Vickers’ research evolved to explore the practical applications of QE training aimed at enhancing performance in different areas, such as sports and surgery.

Five variables in measuring QE

Location (cognitive focus and perception)

It represents the point where cognitive attention is directed, integrating both visual perception and cognitive processing. In QE, this refers to the spot you focus on right before executing a task, such as aiming at a spot on a basketball hoop before making a shot. [11]

QE duration (attentional sustainment)

In 2016, Vickers suggested that the QE period essentially reflected the time for organizing the neural networks and visual parameters that govern the orientation and control of visual attention. [11] In simple terms, the Quiet Eye duration was defined as the final fixation on the target before starting a movement, which usually lasts a minimum of 100 milliseconds.

Onset (cognitive preparation and anticipation)

It indicates the moment the cognitive focus is initiated before the commencement of a motor task. This occurs when an individual mentally prepares their focus before executing a task, highlighting the proactive aspect of cognitive processing. In QE, this refers to the timing of your gaze focusing on that important spot, starting before your movement. For example, aiming before you shoot. [12]

Offset (attentional disengagement)

This refers to the moment when attention is removed from the critical object or location. This shift marks the transition from focused to divided or redirected attention, signifying the end of a concentrated cognitive effort related to the specific task phase. In this context, QE ends (offset) when the individual's gaze moves away from the critical object or location, deviating by more than 3° of visual angle for at least 100 milliseconds, indicating the conclusion of the focused attention phase. [13]

Comparison with skill level

The QE durations and onset times differ significantly between skill levels. Elite performers typically exhibit longer QE durations and earlier onsets compared to less experienced or skilled individuals, suggesting that the quality of QE is a marker of expertise.

QE location, duration, onset and offset are all measured using the eye-tracking technology. [2] [14]

Neural structure behind QE [11]

  1. Visual Information Processing: When a person focuses on the QE location, the retina captures visual information and sends it to the brain via the optic nerve.
  2. Feature Detection and Processing: The visual information arrives at the brain's occipital lobe. The specific regions (V1-V8) in this lobe analyze shape, colour,  and motion, helping identify and understand crucial details for the task.
  3. Attention Networks Activation: The visual information then activates the dorsal attention network (DAN) and the ventral attention network (VAN). The DAN enables us to focus on essential details by filtering distractions, which is crucial for maintaining QE's steady gaze.
  4. Emotion and Memory Integration: Simultaneously, the VAN processes emotional reactions and memories, which affects performance. Ideally, effective QE training enables the DAN to suppress disruptive emotions or memories from the VAN, helping to focus.
  5. Motor Response Preparation: Next, the brain's frontal regions use the processed visual and emotional information to initiate motor responses, such as making a basketball shot.
  6. Execution and Feedback: Finally, the brain sends commands to act, while the cerebellum and basal ganglia refine the movement, ensuring the accuracy of the action.

Applications and mechanism

Mechanism

Quiet eye theory can be used both to predict performance, [5] and sometimes, as quiet eye training, as a means to improve performance. [3] [8]

Quiet eye training is hypothesised to work by improving attentional control, allowing greater cognitive effort to be devoted to the principal task and as such improving motor learning and the robustness of motor skills under pressure. [15] [16]

Application

In 2011, an experiment was conducted to improve visual tracking and performance of athletes by using QE training sessions. [17] Participants were divided into a control group and a training group. The training group participated in 30-minute video feedback sessions that focused on their gaze behaviour when passing the ball. As a result, the training group experienced an increase in QE duration and a faster shot movement time. Their shooting accuracy improved from 63% in the pre-test to 77% in the post-test. This improvement may be attributed to the effectiveness of Quiet Eye training in directing attention to crucial environmental areas, thereby facilitating more efficient motor execution. [17] [18] [19]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Attention</span> Psychological focus, perception and prioritising discrete information

Attention or focus, is the concentration of awareness on some phenomenon to the exclusion of other stimuli. It is the selective concentration on discrete information, either subjectively or objectively. William James (1890) wrote that "Attention is the taking possession by the mind, in clear and vivid form, of one out of what seem several simultaneously possible objects or trains of thought. Focalization, concentration, of consciousness are of its essence." Attention has also been described as the allocation of limited cognitive processing resources. Attention is manifested by an attentional bottleneck, in terms of the amount of data the brain can process each second; for example, in human vision, less than 1% of the visual input data stream of 1MByte/sec can enter the bottleneck, leading to inattentional blindness.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Hemispatial neglect</span> Asymmetrically-impaired spatial awareness due to a brain hemisphere being damaged

Hemispatial neglect is a neuropsychological condition in which, after damage to one hemisphere of the brain, a deficit in attention and awareness towards the side of space opposite brain damage is observed. It is defined by the inability of a person to process and perceive stimuli towards the contralesional side of the body or environment. Hemispatial neglect is very commonly contralateral to the damaged hemisphere, but instances of ipsilesional neglect have been reported.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Eye tracking</span> Measuring the point of gaze or motion of an eye relative to the head

Eye tracking is the process of measuring either the point of gaze or the motion of an eye relative to the head. An eye tracker is a device for measuring eye positions and eye movement. Eye trackers are used in research on the visual system, in psychology, in psycholinguistics, marketing, as an input device for human-computer interaction, and in product design. In addition, eye trackers are increasingly being used for assistive and rehabilitative applications such as controlling wheelchairs, robotic arms, and prostheses. Recently, eye tracking has been examined as a tool for the early detection of autism spectrum disorder. There are several methods for measuring eye movement, with the most popular variant using video images to extract eye position. Other methods use search coils or are based on the electrooculogram.

Inattentional blindness or perceptual blindness occurs when an individual fails to perceive an unexpected stimulus in plain sight, purely as a result of a lack of attention rather than any vision defects or deficits. When it becomes impossible to attend to all the stimuli in a given situation, a temporary "blindness" effect can occur, as individuals fail to see unexpected but often salient objects or stimuli.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Eye movement</span> Movement of the eyes

Eye movement includes the voluntary or involuntary movement of the eyes. Eye movements are used by a number of organisms to fixate, inspect and track visual objects of interests. A special type of eye movement, rapid eye movement, occurs during REM sleep.

Visual learning is a learning style among the learning styles of Neil Fleming's VARK model in which information is presented to a learner in a visual format. Visual learners can utilize graphs, charts, maps, diagrams, and other forms of visual stimulation to effectively interpret information. The Fleming VARK model also includes Kinesthetic Learning and Auditory learning. There is no evidence that providing visual materials to students identified as having a visual style improves learning.

Salience is the property by which some thing stands out. Salient events are an attentional mechanism by which organisms learn and survive; those organisms can focus their limited perceptual and cognitive resources on the pertinent subset of the sensory data available to them.

Visual search is a type of perceptual task requiring attention that typically involves an active scan of the visual environment for a particular object or feature among other objects or features. Visual search can take place with or without eye movements. The ability to consciously locate an object or target amongst a complex array of stimuli has been extensively studied over the past 40 years. Practical examples of using visual search can be seen in everyday life, such as when one is picking out a product on a supermarket shelf, when animals are searching for food among piles of leaves, when trying to find a friend in a large crowd of people, or simply when playing visual search games such as Where's Wally?

Attentional shift occurs when directing attention to a point increases the efficiency of processing of that point and includes inhibition to decrease attentional resources to unwanted or irrelevant inputs. Shifting of attention is needed to allocate attentional resources to more efficiently process information from a stimulus. Research has shown that when an object or area is attended, processing operates more efficiently. Task switching costs occur when performance on a task suffers due to the increased effort added in shifting attention. There are competing theories that attempt to explain why and how attention is shifted as well as how attention is moved through space in attentional control.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Fixation (visual)</span> Maintaining ones gaze on a single location

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Joint attention</span> When two people focus on something at once

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Prism adaptation is a sensory-motor adaptation that occurs after the visual field has been artificially shifted laterally or vertically. It was first introduced by Hermann von Helmholtz in late 19th-century Germany as supportive evidence for his perceptual learning theory. Since its discovery, prism adaptation has been suggested to improve spatial deficits in patients with unilateral neglect.

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Spatial ability</span> Capacity to understand 3D relationships

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References

  1. 1 2 Kohn, David (2015-11-18). "What Athletes See". The Atlantic . Retrieved 2017-07-17.
  2. 1 2 3 4 Vickers, Joan N. (2007). Perception, Cognition, and Decision Training: The Quiet Eye in Action. Human Kinetics. ISBN   978-0-7360-4256-7.
  3. 1 2 Britten, Nick (2010-07-13). "'Quiet Eye' technique can greatly improve putting, scientists claim". The Telegraph . Retrieved 2017-07-17.
  4. 1 2 Wallace, Charles (2014-06-16). "The 'quiet eye' aids elite golfers to focus on putting". Financial Times . Retrieved 2017-07-17.
  5. 1 2 3 Clothier, Julie (2005-03-21). "'Quiet Eye' helps elite athletes". CNN . Retrieved 2017-07-17.
  6. ↑ Vine, Samuel J.; Moore, Lee J.; Wilson, Mark R. (2011-01-28). "Quiet Eye Training Facilitates Competitive Putting Performance in Elite Golfers". Frontiers in Psychology. 2 (8): 8. doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2011.00008 . PMC   3111367 . PMID   21713182.
  7. ↑ Wood, Greg; Wilson, Mark R. (2012). "Quiet-eye training, perceived control and performing under pressure". Psychology of Sport and Exercise. 13 (6): 721–728. doi:10.1016/j.psychsport.2012.05.003.
  8. 1 2 Causer, Joe; Harvey, Adrian; Snelgrove, Ryan; Arsenault, Gina; Vickers, Joan N. (2014). "Quiet eye training improves surgical knot tying more than traditional technical training: a randomized controlled study". The American Journal of Surgery. 208 (2): 171–177. doi:10.1016/j.amjsurg.2013.12.042. PMID   24881015. S2CID   43100982 . Retrieved 2017-07-17.
  9. ↑ Mann, Derek T. Y.; Williams, A. Mark; Ward, Paul; Janelle, Christopher M. (August 2007). "Perceptual-cognitive expertise in sport: a meta-analysis" (PDF). Journal of Sport & Exercise Psychology. 29 (4): 457–478. doi:10.1123/jsep.29.4.457. ISSN   0895-2779. PMID   17968048. S2CID   6329154.
  10. ↑ Baker, Joseph; Wattie, Nick (2016-10-13). "Sssh! We're talking about the Quiet Eye – comment on Vickers". Current Issues in Sport Science. 2016 (1). doi:10.15203/ciss_2016.102. ISSN   2414-6641.
  11. 1 2 3 Vickers, Joan N. (2016). "Origins and current issues in Quiet Eye research". Current Issues in Sport Science. 2016. [object Object]. doi: 10.15203/CISS_2016.101 . S2CID   148234906.
  12. ↑ "Perceptual expertise: What can be trained?", Skill Acquisition in Sport, Routledge, pp. 332–350, 2012-06-25, doi:10.4324/9780203133712-29, ISBN   978-0-203-13371-2 , retrieved 2024-03-20
  13. ↑ Vickers, Joan N. (2007). "The Quiet Eye As A Factor In Athlete Decision Making". PsycEXTRA Dataset. doi:10.1037/e548052012-096 . Retrieved 2024-03-20.
  14. ↑ Mann, Derek T. Y.; Wright, Allison; Janelle, Christopher M. (2016-10-13). "Quiet Eye: The efficiency paradox – comment on Vickers". Current Issues in Sport Science. 2016 (1). doi:10.15203/ciss_2016.111. ISSN   2414-6641.
  15. ↑ Behan, Michael; Wilson, Mark (2008-05-20). "State anxiety and visual attention: The role of the quiet eye period in aiming to a far target". Journal of Sports Sciences. 26 (2): 207–215. doi:10.1080/02640410701446919. PMID   17926174. S2CID   2784252.
  16. ↑ Gonzalez, C. C.; Causer, J.; Miall, R. C.; Grey, M. J.; Humphreys, G.; Williams, A. M. (2015-09-10). "Identifying the causal mechanisms of the quiet eye" (PDF). European Journal of Sport Science. 17 (1): 74–84. doi:10.1080/17461391.2015.1075595. PMID   26356536. S2CID   15565995 . Retrieved 2017-07-17.
  17. 1 2 Causer, Joe; Holmes, Paul S.; Smith, Nickolas C.; Williams, A. Mark (June 2011). "Anxiety, movement kinematics, and visual attention in elite-level performers" (PDF). Emotion. 11 (3): 595–602. doi: 10.1037/a0023225 . ISSN   1931-1516. PMID   21668110. S2CID   4642927.
  18. ↑ Causer, Joe (2016-10-13). "The future of Quiet Eye research – comment on Vickers". Current Issues in Sport Science. 2016 (1). doi:10.15203/ciss_2016.103. ISSN   2414-6641.
  19. ↑ Farrow, Damian; Panchuk, Derek (2016-10-13). "Using Quiet Eye training in an elite sport context – comment on Vickers". Current Issues in Sport Science. 2016 (1). doi:10.15203/ciss_2016.105. ISSN   2414-6641.
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