Examining the roles of working memory and visual attention in multiple object tracking expertise

David J. Harris*, Mark R. Wilson, Emily M. Crowe, Samuel J. Vine

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to JournalArticleAcademicpeer-review

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 languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)209-222
Number of pages14
JournalCognitive Processing
Volume21
Issue number2
Early online date3 Feb 2020
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 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

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