In my mind’s (quiet) eye: a perceptual-cognitive approach to the Quiet Eye – comment on Vickers

Abstract

A B S T R AC TIn her article on the origins and current issues in quiet eye (QE) research, reviewing an impressive body of research, Vickers (2016) concludes amongst others that it is important to understand the neural and other processes underlying the QE. Interestingly, the debate on the mechanisms of the QE has received growing interest only recently, with hypotheses from two main theoretical approaches (i.e., cognitive and ecological ones) evolving. What is missing as part of this discussion, however, are perceptual-cognitive approaches and their potential explanatory value with respect to the QE. Following a short summary of the current debate on the theoretical underpinnings of the QE and the main hypotheses that have been proposed so far, we introduce a perceptual-cognitive approach to the QE, and discuss recent findings that point to a perceptual-cognitive explanation of the QE.

Beyond visual fixations and gaze behaviour. Using pupillometry to examine the mechanisms in the planning and motor performance of a golf putt

“…However, whilst this growing research base appears to offer consistency of research findings, there is a paucity of research to explain the underlying cognitive mechanisms of QE as highlighted by Gonzalez et al (2015). As emphasised by Frank & Schack (2016), to date the theoretical explanations proposed to describe the mechanisms of QE can be categorised as either cognitive or ecological approaches.…”

Basketball referee's gaze behavior and stimulus selection in relation to visual angle perspective and officiating mechanics and expertise

“…Table 1 shows the mean and standard deviation obtained for the total number of fixations, the average fixation time, and the total fixation time in all the gameplay situations for both experimental groups: Concerning the visual behavior in the areas of responsibility, Table 2 shows that both expert and novice referees spent across studies should be made with caution as these are highly dependent on the characteristics of the tasks analyzed (Frank & Schack, 2016).…”

The Representation of Motor (Inter)action, States of Action, and Learning: Three Perspectives on Motor Learning by Way of Imagery and Execution

“…Combined practice led both to more developed representation structures and to more elaborate gaze behavior prior to the execution of the putt, with final fixations prior to the onset of the putting movement (i.e., the quiet eye) being longest for this group and better developed representation structures relating to longer quiet eye durations after learning. Accordingly, the quiet eye might reflect a predictive mode of control that initiates a cognitively demanding process of motor planning based on the representation available (for details on a perceptual-cognitive perspective on the quiet eye, see Frank and Schack, 2016 ).…”