Success in basketball shooting is better explained by less variability in quiet eye duration than the average quiet eye duration itself

Gaze behavior termed quiet eye (QE), which is characterized by a fixation of long duration towards a task-relevant target at the moment of critical movement initiation, has been shown to be beneficial for performance in a variety of motor aiming tasks. Several studies, however, have questioned the effect of long QE durations for performance. Here, we show that the variability in QE duration across trials is a stronger predictor of aiming performance than the average QE duration per se. Twenty-six basketball players completed 100 free-throws with their eye movements recorded along with the free-throw accuracy. Results revealed that both the QE duration and variability were significantly correlated with free throw success rate. However, multiple regression analysis revealed that free-throw success was best explained by the QE variability (56 % explanatory rate). Mediation analysis also supported a model between QE duration and free-throw success rate mediated by QE variability. The results suggest that a longer QE duration may increase success by reducing QE variability. This provides new insights for understanding the association between QE and performance in aiming tasks.