Abstract
When tracking multiple moving targets among visually similar distractors, human observers are capable of distributing attention over several spatial locations. It is unclear, however, whether capacity limitations or perceptual–cognitive abilities are responsible for the development of expertise in multiple object tracking. Across two experiments, we examined the role of working memory and visual attention in tracking expertise. In Experiment 1, individuals who regularly engaged in object tracking sports (soccer and rugby) displayed improved tracking performance, relative to non-tracking sports (swimming, rowing, running) (p = 0.02, ηp 2 = 0.163), but no differences in gaze strategy (ps > 0.31). In Experiment 2, participants trained on an adaptive object tracking task showed improved tracking performance (p = 0.005, d = 0.817), but no changes in gaze strategy (ps > 0.07). They did, however, show significant improvement in a working memory transfer task (p < 0.001, d = 0.970). These findings indicate that the development of tracking expertise is more closely linked to processing capacity limits than perceptual–cognitive strategies.
Original language | English |
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Pages (from-to) | 209-222 |
Number of pages | 14 |
Journal | Cognitive Processing |
Volume | 21 |
Issue number | 2 |
Early online date | 3 Feb 2020 |
DOIs | |
Publication status | Published - 1 May 2020 |
Funding
Data collection for Experiment 2 was supported by Grant TIN 3.215 awarded to SV, from the Defence Human Capability Science & Technology Centre (DHCSTC), and sponsored by Defence Science Technology Laboratory, UK.
Keywords
- Eye tracking
- Gaze
- MOT
- Perceptual–cognitive expertise
- Sport