Eye quietness and quiet eye in expert and novice golf performance: an electrooculographic analysis

Quiet eye (QE) is the final ocular fixation on the target of an action (e.g., the ball in golf putting). Camerabased eye-tracking studies have consistently found longer QE durations in experts than novices; however, mechanisms underlying QE are not known. To offer a new perspective we examined the feasibility of measuring the QE using electrooculography (EOG) and developed an index to assess ocular activity across time: eye quietness (EQ). Ten expert and ten novice golfers putted 60 balls to a 2.4 m distant hole. Horizontal EOG (2ms resolution) was recorded from two electrodes placed on the outer sides of the eyes. QE duration was measured using a EOG voltage threshold and comprised the sum of the pre-movement and post-movement initiation components. EQ was computed as the standard deviation of the EOG in 0.5 s bins from –4 to +2 s, relative to backswing initiation: lower values indicate less movement of the eyes, hence greater quietness. Finally, we measured club-ball address and swing durations. T-tests showed that total QE did not differ between groups (p = .31); however, experts had marginally shorter pre-movement QE (p = .08) and longer post-movement QE (p < .001) than novices. A group × time ANOVA revealed that experts had less EQ before backswing initiation and greater EQ after backswing initiation (p = .002). QE durations were inversely correlated with EQ from –1.5 to 1 s (rs = –.48 - –.90, ps = .03 - .001). Experts had longer swing durations than novices (p = .01) and, importantly, swing durations correlated positively with post-movement QE (r = .52, p = .02) and negatively with EQ from 0.5 to 1s (r = –.63, p = .003). This study demonstrates the feasibility of measuring ocular activity using EOG and validates EQ as an index of ocular activity. Its findings challenge the dominant perspective on QE and provide new evidence that expert-novice differences in ocular activity may reflect differences in the kinematics of how experts and novices execute skills

Using a Prediction and Option Generation Paradigm to Understand Decision Making

In many complex and dynamic domains, the ability to generate and then select the appropriate course of action is based on the decision maker\u27s reading of the situation--in other words, their ability to assess the situation and predict how it will evolve over the next few seconds. Current theories regarding option generation during the situation assessment and response phases of decision making offer contrasting views on the cognitive mechanisms that support superior performance. The Recognition-Primed Decision-making model (RPD; Klein, 1989) and Take-The-First heuristic (TTF; Johnson & Raab, 2003) suggest that superior decisions are made by generating few options, and then selecting the first option as the final one. Long-Term Working Memory theory (LTWM; Ericsson & Kintsch, 1995), on the other hand, posits that skilled decision makers construct rich, detailed situation models, and that as a result, skilled performers should have the ability to generate more of the available task-relevant options. The main goal of this dissertation was to use these theories about option generation as a way to further the understanding of how police officers anticipate a perpetrator\u27s actions, and make decisions about how to respond, during dynamic law enforcement situations. An additional goal was to gather information that can be used, in the future, to design training based on the anticipation skills, decision strategies, and processes of experienced officers. Two studies were conducted to achieve these goals. Study 1 identified video-based law enforcement scenarios that could be used to discriminate between experienced and less-experienced police officers, in terms of their ability to anticipate the outcome. The discriminating scenarios were used as the stimuli in Study 2; 23 experienced and 26 less-experienced police officers observed temporally-occluded versions of the scenarios, and then completed assessment and response option-generation tasks. The results provided mixed support for the nature of option generation in these situations. Consistent with RPD and TTF, participants typically selected the first-generated option as their final one, and did so during both the assessment and response phases of decision making. Consistent with LTWM theory, participants--regardless of experience level--generated more task-relevant assessment options than task-irrelevant options. However, an expected interaction between experience level and option-relevance was not observed. Collectively, the two studies provide a deeper understanding of how police officers make decisions in dynamic situations. The methods developed and employed in the studies can be used to investigate anticipation and decision making in other critical domains (e.g., nursing, military). The results are discussed in relation to how they can inform future studies of option-generation performance, and how they could be applied to develop training for law enforcement officers

WPI’s Gordon Library Video Game Archive Collection and Use Pertaining to the Nintendo Entertainment System

This project attempts to make the Gordon Library’s Video Game Archive more accessible to the WPI community and to allow easier accessioning for newly donated items. We created resources for archive staff to take in new items, properly clean and care for items and setup exhibits that require video game related items

Visual skills in elite athletes

In order to perform at the highest level, athletes will acquire information from all of their sensory systems. It would be intuitive to assume that the most vital information for the majority of sports-related tasks will be gathered via the visual system and that this visual input. tends to override information from other sensory sources. Research is beginning to highlight the links between the ability to quickly and accurately pick up visual information and quality of performance in a range of sports (Erickson, 2007). The purpose of this thesis is to investigate the visual skills of elite athletes and the effect of these visual skills on performance at the highest level of sport. The first experimental chapter aims to assess the current level of visual skills present in athletes of the highest level and compare these to lower level athletes, as well as by gender and sport. The thesis then goes on to develop a tool to use in order to assess the visual demands of a particular sport. In Chapters Four and Five visual training programmes are used with the aim of improving visual skills of elite athletes. In one study improvements are measured by playing position and the next applies different methods of vision training and improvements are measured not only in visual skill but also in sport-specific skill. Finally Chapter Six uses fMRI to compare the different brain function of expert athlete with novices. This thesis has shown that athletes from different sports, genders and abilities show assorted visual skills. It has also developed a tool to uncover which visual skills an expert considers most important for their sport. The training studies have proved successful in improving not only the visual skills of elite athletes but also their sport specific skills. Finally, it has been shown that experts use different areas of their brain when making sporting judgements, regardless of whether the decision is in the sport in which they excel or in an unfamiliar sport.EThOS - Electronic Theses Online ServiceGBUnited Kingdo