Quiet Eye Training in a Visuomotor Control Task

Introduction: Several researchers have reported the importance of maintaining a longer final fixation on the target (termed the quiet eye period, QE) prior to performing an aiming task. We present an innovative, perceptual training intervention intended to improve the efficiency of gaze behavior (i.e., QE) in shotgun shooting. Methods: A sample of 20 International-level, skeet shooters were assigned equally to one of two, matched-ability groups based on their pre-test shooting scores. A perceptual training group participated in a 4-step, pre-shot routine, alongside three video feedback sessions involving their own gaze behaviors and those of an expert model in an effort to influence positively QE behaviors. A control group received video feedback of performance, but without the addition of feedback on QE behaviors. Participants completed pre- and post-tests along with an 8-week training intervention. Results: The perceptual training group significantly increased its mean QE duration (397 cw 423 ms), employed an earlier onset of QE (257 cw 244 ms), and recorded higher shooting accuracy scores (62 cw 70 %) from pre- to post-test. Participants in the perceptual training group significantly reduced gun barrel displacement and absolute peak velocity on the post- compared to the pre-test, even though neither variable was overtly trained. A transfer test, based on performance during competition, indicated that perceptual training significantly improved shooting accuracy pre- to post-intervention. No pre- to post-test differences were observed for the control group on the measures reported. Conclusion: The results demonstrate the effectiveness of QE training in improving shooting accuracy and developing a more efficient visuo-motor control strategy. Findings have implications for future research on training visuo-motor behaviors, attention and gaze orientation during the performance of aiming tasks

Congruency of gaze metrics in action, imagery and action observation

The aim of this paper is to provide a review of eye movements during action execution, action observation, and movement imagery. Furthermore, the paper highlights aspects of congruency in gaze metrics between these states. The implications of the imagery, observation, and action gaze congruency are discussed in terms of motor learning and rehabilitation. Future research directions are outlined in order to further the understanding of shared gaze metrics between overt and covert states. Suggestions are made for how researchers and practitioners can structure action observation and movement imagery interventions to maximize (re)learning

Anxiety, Movement Kinematics, and Visual Attention in Elite-Level Performers

We tested the predictions of Attentional Control Theory (ACT) by examining the effect of anxiety on attention control and the subsequent influence on both performance effectiveness and performance efficiency within a perceptual-motor context. A sample (N = 16) of elite shotgun shooters was tested under counterbalanced low (practice) and high (competition) anxiety conditions. A head-mounted, corneal reflection system allowed point of gaze to be calculated in relation to the scene, while motion of the gun was evaluated using markers placed on the barrel which were captured by two stationary cameras and analyzed using optical tracking software. The quiet eye (QE) duration and onset were analyzed along with gun barrel displacement and variability; performance outcome scores (successful vs. unsuccessful) were also recorded. QE (Vickers, 1996) is defined as the final fixation or tracking gaze that is located on a specific location/object in the visual display for a minimum of 100 ms. Longer QE durations have been linked to successful performance in previous research involving aiming tasks. Participants demonstrated shorter quiet eye durations, and less efficient gun motion, along with a decreased performance outcome (fewer successful trials) under high compared with low anxiety conditions. The data support the predictions of ACT with anxiety disrupting control processes such that goal-directed attention was compromised, leading to a significant impairment in performance effectiveness

Psychological characteristics of champion orienteers: Should they be considered in talent identification and development?

A range of cognitive skills that support the development of sport potential have been suggested to be important for athletes and coaches. This study explored performers’ psychological characteristics within orienteers. The psychological skills of World Elite orienteers and athletes in the National Junior Squads of both Great Britain and Switzerland were assessed using the six-factor Psychological Characteristics of Excellence Questionnaire. Data suggested that, as juniors, elite orienteers reported less support for long-term success than the Swiss juniors, perhaps because of the earlier adoption of self-coaching, but were not significantly different from either junior group on all other factors. British juniors were not significantly different from the other two groups on any factor. Follow-up qualitative approaches explored possible reasons for the World Elites’ early reliance on ‘‘self’’ rather than ‘‘other’’, the role of the coach and the self-coaching phenomenon. The role of orienteering in developing these skills is also discussed along with unique psychological challenges faced by high performing orienteers

Anxiety symptom interpretation and performance expectations in high-anxious, low-anxious, defensive high-anxious and repressor individuals

To date, no research has investigated score predictions and anxiety interpretation in high-anxious, low-anxious, defensive high-anxious and repressor individuals. This study examined Eysenck’s (1997) predictions for cognitive biases on future performance expectations in all four groups. This study was conducted in an ecologically-valid sporting environment. Competitive shooters completed the Marlowe–Crowne Social Desirability Scale and the Sport Anxiety Scale prior to a major competition. Percentile splits identified the four defensiveness/anxiety groups. The modified Competitive Sport Anxiety Inventory-2 was used to assess the intensity and direction of anxiety prior to competition. Participants predicted their expected shooting score. The hypothesis that repressors would interpret their anxiety as more facilitative to performance compared to low-anxious individuals was partially supported. Repressors were more optimistic in their performance prediction in contrast to defensive high-anxious performers who, in turn, were more pessimistic compared to the other two groupings. High-anxious performers, contrary to predictions, demonstrated optimism in their future performance. The findings of this study corroborate the theoretical predictions and the evidence from previous studies with sport performers. Future research should continue to investigate the influence of cognitive biases on performance predictions in sporting environments using Weinberger et al.’s classifications

Preliminary evidence for reduced cortical activity in experienced guitarists during performance preparation for simple scale playing

Research using neuroscientific techniques has shown that less cortical activity occurs in the brains of experienced musicians and athletes than in the brains of novices when they plan and prepare to perform a motor skill. We used electroencephalography to observe cortical activity in the brains of experienced and novice guitarists preparing to play a scale on the guitar. The results, presented in this research note, confirm the findings of previous research and suggest that the motor preparation of experts is more efficient than that of novices. Cortical activity in music students could therefore, if tracked longitudinally, provide an objective marker of musical skill learning and be used to inform music learning, teaching and assessment practices

Viewing instructions accompanying action observation modulate corticospinal excitability

Action observation interventions may have the potential to contribute to improved motor function in motor (re)learning settings by promoting functional activity and plasticity in the motor regions of the brain. Optimal methods for delivering such interventions, however, have yet to be established. This experiment investigated the effect on corticospinal excitability of manipulating the viewing instructions provided to participants (N = 21) prior to action observation. Specifically, motor evoked potential responses measured from the right hand muscles following single-pulse transcranial magnetic stimulation to the left motor cortex were compared when participants were instructed to observe finger-thumb opposition movement sequences: (i) passively; (ii) with the intent to imitate the observed movement; or (iii) whilst simultaneously and actively imagining that they were performing the movement as they observed it. All three action observation viewing instructions facilitated corticospinal excitability to a greater extent than did observation of a static hand. In addition, the extent to which corticospinal excitability was facilitated was greater during combined observation and imagery, compared to passive observation. These findings have important implications for the design of action observation interventions in motor (re)learning settings, where instructions that encourage observers to simultaneously imagine themselves performing the observed movement may offer the current optimal method for improving motor function through action observation

Personality Type Influences Attentional Bias in Individuals with Chronic Back Pain

Attentional biases reflect an individual’s selective attention to salient stimuli within their environment, for example an experience of back pain. Eysenck suggests that different personality types show different attentional biases to threatening information. This study is the first to test Eysenck’s theory within a chronic back pain population by investigating the attentional biases of four different personality types using a back pain specific dot-probe paradigm. Participants were 70 volunteers (45 female) recruited from a back rehabilitation program at an NHS Trust. The four groups were selected on their trait anxiety and defensiveness scores: defensive high-anxious; high-anxious; repressor and non-extreme. Participants completed a dot probe task comprising 20 practice trials and 250 experimental trials. The experimental trials contained 100 threat-neutral pairs, 100 positive-neutral pairs and 50 neutral-neutral image pairings. The threat images were taken from the Photograph Series of Daily Activities (PHODA) and the neutral and positive images from the International Affective Picture System (IAPS) image bank. The results provided partial support for Eysenck’s theory; defensive high-anxious individuals showed an attentional bias for threatening information compared to high-anxious individuals who demonstrated no bias. Repressors showed an avoidant bias to threatening images and an attentional bias to positive stimuli relative to neutral images. The clear difference in responses demonstrated by high-anxious individuals who vary in defensiveness highlight the need for separate investigation of these heterogeneous groups and help to explain the cognitive processes of defensive high-anxious individuals within a pain population. The demonstration of an attentional bias in this group to threatening information could explain why defensive high-anxious individuals are more likely to re-present for treatment

The impact of promoting revised UK low-risk drinking guidelines on alcohol consumption: interrupted time series analysis

Background: The UK’s Chief Medical Officers revised the UK alcohol drinking guidelines in 2016 to ≤ 14 units per week (1 unit = 10 ml/8 g ethanol) for men and women. Previously, the guideline stated that men should not regularly consume more than 3–4 units per day and women should not regularly consume more than 2–3 units per day. Objective: To evaluate the impact of promoting revised UK drinking guidelines on alcohol consumption. Design: Interrupted time series analysis of observational data. Setting: England, March 2014 to October 2017. Participants: A total of 74,388 adults aged ≥ 16 years living in private households in England. Interventions: Promotion of revised UK low-risk drinking guidelines. Main outcome measures: Primary outcome – alcohol consumption measured by the Alcohol Use Disorders Identification Test – Consumption score. Secondary outcomes – average weekly consumption measured using graduated frequency, monthly alcohol consumption per capita adult (aged ≥ 16 years) derived from taxation data, monthly number of hospitalisations for alcohol poisoning (International Statistical Classification of Diseases and Related Health Problems, Tenth Revision: T51.0, T51.1 and T51.9) and assault (International Statistical Classification of Diseases and Related Health Problems, Tenth Revision: X85–Y09), and further measures of influences on behaviour change. Data sources: The Alcohol Toolkit Study, a monthly cross-sectional survey and NHS Digital’s Hospital Episode Statistics. Results: The revised drinking guidelines were not subject to large-scale promotion after the initial January 2016 announcement. An analysis of news reports found that mentions of the guidelines were mostly factual, and spiked during January 2016. In December 2015, the modelled average Alcohol Use Disorders Identification Test – Consumption score was 2.719 out of 12.000 and was decreasing by 0.003 each month. After the January 2016 announcement, Alcohol Use Disorders Identification Test – Consumption scores did not decrease significantly (β = 0.001, 95% confidence interval –0.079 to 0.099). However, the trend did change significantly such that scores subsequently increased by 0.005 each month (β = 0.008, 95% confidence interval 0.001 to 0.015). This change is equivalent to 0.5% of the population moving each month from drinking two or three times per week to drinking four or more times per week. Secondary analyses indicated that the change in trend began 6 months before the guideline announcement. The secondary outcome measures showed conflicting results, with no significant changes in consumption measures and no substantial changes in influences on behaviour change, but immediate reductions in hospitalisations of 7.3% for assaults and 15.4% for alcohol poisonings. Limitations: The pre-intervention data collection period was only 2 months for influences on behaviour change and the graduated frequency measure. Our conclusions may be generalisable only to scenarios in which guidelines are announced but not promoted. Conclusions: The announcement of revised UK low-risk drinking guidelines was not associated with clearly detectable changes in drinking behaviour. Observed reductions in alcohol-related hospitalisations are unlikely to be attributable to the revised guidelines. Promotion of the guidelines may have been prevented by opposition to the revised guidelines from the government's alcohol industry partners or because reduction in alcohol consumption was not a government priority or because practical obstacles prevented independent public health organisations from promoting the guidelines. Additional barriers to the effectiveness of guidelines may include low public understanding and a need for guidelines to engage more with how drinkers respond to and use them in practice. Trial registration: Current Controlled Trials ISRCTN15189062. Funding: This project was funded by the National Institute for Health Research (NIHR) Public Health Research programme and will be published in full in Public Health Research; Vol. 8, No. 14. See the NIHR Journals Library website for further project information

Effects on alcohol consumption of announcing and implementing revised UK low-risk drinking guidelines: findings from an interrupted time series analysis

Background: In January 2016, the UK announced and began implementing revised guidelines for low-risk drinking of 14 units (112 g) per week for men and women. This was a reduction from the previous guidelines for men of 3–4 units (24–32 g) per day. There was no large-scale promotion of the revised guidelines beyond the initial media announcement. This paper evaluates the effect of announcing the revised guidelines on alcohol consumption among adults in England. / Methods: Data come from a monthly repeat cross-sectional survey of approximately 1700 adults living in private households in England collected between March 2014 and October 2017. The primary outcomes are change in level and time trend of participants’ Alcohol Use Disorders Identification Test—Consumption (AUDIT-C) scores. / Results: In December 2015, the modelled average AUDIT-C score was 2.719 out of 12 and was decreasing by 0.003 each month. After January 2016, AUDIT-C scores increased immediately but non-significantly to 2.720 (β=0.001, CI −0.079 to 0.099) and the trend changed significantly such that scores subsequently increased by 0.005 each month (β=0.008, CI 0.001 to 0.015), equivalent to 0.5% of the population increasing their AUDIT-C score by 1 point each month. Secondary analyses indicated the change in trend began 7 months before the guideline announcement and that AUDIT-C scores reduced significantly but temporarily for 4 months after the announcement (β=−0.087, CI −0.167 to 0.007). / Conclusions: Announcing new UK drinking guidelines did not lead to a substantial or sustained reduction in drinking or a downturn in the long-term trend in alcohol consumption, but there was evidence of a temporary reduction in consumption