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Perception, Cognition, and Decision Training

The Quiet Eye in Action

By Joan Vickers

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© 2007

Hardback
Book 280 pages
ISBN-13: 9780736042567

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Athletes must be able to make split-second decisions under the pressures of competition, but often this vital learning is left to chance. With Perception, Cognition, and Decision Training: The Quiet Eye in Action, readers gain access to the research foundations behind an innovative decision-training system that has been used successfully for years in training athletes.

Certain to become the definitive guide to decision making in sport, this text presents three innovations solidly based in research. The first is the vision-in-action method of recording what athletes actually see when they perform. The second is the quiet eye phenomenon that has attracted considerable media attention. The third innovation is decision training to identify not only how athletes make performance decisions but also how to facilitate visual perception and action to enhance performance. Author Joan Vickers—who discovered the quiet eye and developed the vision-in-action method—takes the next step by integrating all three innovations into a system for helping athletes improve. Together, these advances provide scientific evidence of the effectiveness of perception–action coupling in athletes’ training.

Perception, Cognition, and Decision Training: The Quiet Eye in Action is applied to a variety of sports and settings through a three-step decision-training model and seven ready-to-use tools for encouraging athletes to become part of the decision-training process. These tools are research-based concepts that coaches can choose from in order to help train athletes on a specific decision-making task in a simulated competition context. The book also uses these features:



•Informative chapter-opening items provide an overview of the content, and special sections recap the previous chapter and introduce the next.

•Screen captures from the latest in eye-tracking technology show what athletes actually see, where their eyes are directed, and how their gaze differs depending on their ability level.

•Boldfaced key terms and a thorough glossary make it easy to identify key concepts in this emerging field of study.

•Chapter-closing in-action sections provide an opportunity to visit Web sites, read articles, or complete tasks to discover how the concepts learned can be applied.

•Case studies show how coaches and athletes in various sports have successfully used gaze control and decision training.

The book is organized into three parts. Part I introduces the visuomotor system and two processing systems that work together to permit the great range of actions humans perform. Eye-tracking technology is reviewed along with new possibilities for measuring what athletes really see when they perform. In part II, the author presents a unique framework of gaze control. Readers will learn how skilled athletes control the gaze to gain optimal control of their attention and decision making. The quiet eye phenomenon, measurement, and training are also addressed.
Part III describes the three-step decision-training model and its application to how coaches design practice, provide feedback, use questions, and give instructions. Case studies show how others are using the model and the seven decision-training tools.

Decision training is designed to improve athletes’ attention, anticipation, concentration, memory, and problem-solving skills, leading to extraordinary long-term gains. The cutting-edge research presented in this book allows readers to appreciate the growing importance of cognition, vision, and decision making; it also shows them how to apply this knowledge to sport training and coaching.




Contents


Preface

Introduction
Visuomotor Coordination
Three Categories of Gaze Control
The Quiet Eye
Summary of Theoretical Orientation

Part I. Visual Perception, Cognition, and Action

Chapter 1. Visual System, Motor Control, and the Changing Brain
Visual System
Properties of the Gaze in Space
Neural Centers of the Brain
Changes in the Brain

Chapter 2. Measuring What Athletes See
What Do Athletes See?
Eye-Tracking Technology Today
Visual-Search Paradigm
Vision-in-Action Paradigm
Interpreting Vision-in-Action Data

Chapter 3. Visual Attention and Gaze Control
Information-Processing Time
What Is Visual Attention?
Control of the Gaze and Overt and Covert Attention
Visual Attention and Representation of the World

Part II. Gaze Control and the Quiet Eye in Sport

Chapter 4. Gaze Control Framework
Three Categories of Gaze Control
Four Factors That Affect Gaze Control

Chapter 5. Gaze Control to a Single Fixed Target
Has Targeting Contributed to a Bigger Brain?
Gaze Control in the Basketball Free Throw
Gaze Control in the Jump Shot
Quiet Eye in the Free Throw and Jump Shot
Quiet-Eye Training in Basketball Shooting
Quiet Eye and EEG in Rifle Shooting
Quiet Eye in Biathlon Shooting Under Pressure

Chapter 6. Gaze Control in Abstract-Target and Moving-Target Tasks
Gaze Control in Golf Putting
Quiet-Eye Training in Golf
Quiet Eye in Billiards
Gaze Control in Moving-Target Tasks
Interpreting the Quiet-Eye Period in Targeting Tasks

Chapter 7. Gaze Control in Interceptive Timing Tasks
Interceptive Timing Tasks Defined
Object Recognition: Anticipating Object Flight
Object Tracking: Reading a Moving Object
Object Tracking and Object Control: Hitting Targets in Table Tennis
Object Recognition, Object Tracking, and Object Control
Quiet-Eye Training in the Volleyball Serve Reception
Relationship Between Gaze Control and Verbal Reports
Gaze Control in Ice Hockey Goaltending

Chapter 8. Gaze Control in Tactical Tasks
What Are Tactical Tasks?
Visual-Spatial Intelligence
Tenenbaum’s Context and Target Control Model
Klein’s Recognition-Primed Model of Decision Making
Gaze Control During Locomotion
Gaze Control During Set and Novel Plays

Part III. Decision Training in Sport

Chapter 9. Decision-Training Model
Four Foundations of Decision Training
Paradox of Modern Motor Learning Research
Three-Step Decision-Training Model
Evidence Showing the Effectiveness of Decision Training

Chapter 10. Designing Practices With a Decision-Training Focus
DT Tool 1: Variable Practice (Smart Variations)
DT Tool 2: Random Practice (Smart Combinations)
Research Support for Variable and Random Practice
Variable and Random Practice in the Sport Setting
Example 1: Decision Training in Badminton Tactics
Example 2: Decision Training in Freestyle Ski Jumping
Example 3: Decision Training in Golf Putting

Chapter 11. Providing Feedback With a Decision-Training Focus
Feedback Defined
DT Tool 3: Bandwidth Feedback
DT Tool 4: Questioning
Research Support for Bandwidth Feedback and Questioning
DT Tool 5: Video Feedback and Self-Regulation
Example 1: Decision Training in Biathlon Skiing
Example 2: Decision Training in Counseling

Chapter 12. Providing Instruction With a Decision-Training Focus
DT Tool 6: Hard-First Instruction and Modeling
Does Modeling Improve Performance?
DT Tool 7: External Focus of Instruction
Example 1: Decision Training in Cycle Racing
Example 2: Decision Training in Speed Skating

Glossary
References
Additional Quiet Eye and Decision Training Resources
Index
About the Author



Audiences


Professional reference for sport coaches, researchers, professors of motor learning, sport pedagogy specialists, and cognitive psychologists. Text for undergraduate and graduate courses in motor behavior, sport psychology and sport pedagogy, and cognitive psychology.

Joan N. Vickers, PhD, is a researcher who has been conducting research in gaze control and motor behavior in sport since 1980. From her research, she originated the vision-in-action method, discovered the quiet eye, and developed decision training. Vickers' work has been featured on CNN, with Alan Alda on PBS, and in Golf Digest. She is currently a kinesiology professor at the University of Calgary where she also provides decision training as a professional certification.
Dr. Vickers previously wrote Instructional Design for Teaching Physical Activity, is a reviewer for many journals, and is a member of the North American Society for Psychology of Sport and Physical Activity (NASPSPA) and other professional organizations. An internationally known speaker, she has introduced and taught decision training throughout Canada, and many sport organizations in Canada have adopted the approach.






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[coach D'E]

I have not read this book, but there are some "Old School" methods for training the eye. It was said that Ted Williams would put a record on the fastest speed and try to read the Letters at the center. The problem here is that no one has a record player or any records in 2010. A drill that we do is to put 1 or 2 stripes on practice balls. We than hit one of thes balls to a player positioned at 3rd base. If she catches a 1 stripe ball she throws to first. A 2 stripe ball is thrown to 2nd base. Another one would be to stripe a few balls that are than randomly included in with a batting machine. If a stripped ball is thrown the batter bunts. There is also something that is done with the "HIT-A-STICK" after a few minutes hitting with the HIT-A-STICK have the batter close their eyes. Than position the ball at an odd position around the plate. Than tell the batter to open her eyes. She has to instantly pickup where the ball went and make phyical,muscular, and mental adjustments to hit the ball.

 

[FastpitchFan]

Dr. Vickers is an amazing researcher in the field of cognition at the University of Calgary.

I am quite familiar with her research. Especially, the whole concept of decision-training. I was trained in the concept by her at a seminar a few years ago and did some of my graduate work using that concept.

I believe the next breakthrough in "sports performance" will be the "head training" or all the stuff related to ...

- Information gathering (visual qualities)
- Information processing (how quickly your brain process the information against its database - knowledge you have and experiences you've lived to make the right decision given the context)
- Decision-Making (ability to make quick and accurate decision given a situation considering the info you gathered)

Softball example...

Pitch is thrown at you

1. Information Gathering => you must pick direction and movement of the ball
2. Information Processing => You must analyze against your database (previous knowledge or experience) if it is a hittable pitch and where it is going and how you are going to approach if you swing
3. Decision-making => deciding to swing or not.

All this happens very quickly but it is crucial in any sport to train decision-making or what Dr. Vickers call - decision-training . There are a lot more I could add but you get the idea.

Coach Marc

 

[druer]

There is actually a really nifty (very scientific term) product out there called the Vizual Edge Performance trainer. It is a computer based software program that comes with a pair of 3D glasses. The software includes modules for improving the muscles in the eyes for focusing on Convergence and Divergence. It also has other modules that are targeted on Visual Recognition and Visual Tracking and both of those have a reaction time component. They call it "weightlifting for the eyes" which seems very appropriate. Athletes train every muscle in their body, but neglect the most important muscles of them all "the muscles in their eyes." You can find more information at: Sports Vision Performance Training - Visual Fitness by Vizual Edge

I've used it for the past 2 years with several of my students. Those that are comitted to using it regularly have shown a marked improvement in their game and in the confidence that they take with them to the plate because they "believe" they will see the ball better and will be able to gather information from the pitchers release.

 

[Hitter]

We have been using these drills since 2004 with our kids and depending on what they put into it is what they get out of it. Most of Team USA had the Nintendo Flash Focus also.

Here are some of the drills from Burton Worrell...From Outside Magazine October 2004

The drill is called rapid eye movement from Burton Worrell’s ocular drills. He recommends spending at least three minutes a day on doing the drills. That is very little time for what I believe will improve your ability to not only track the ball better but improve your balance and ability to field the ball while changing direction. He calls the drill “Walk the Plank”.

The challenge as he puts it is, “When you are multitasking at full tilt, balance is one of the first things to suffer. Forcing yourself to focus on a moving object throughout your line of sight-while you’re moving and keeping your balance-trains you to maintain your inner equilibrium.”

The Drill: Lay a two-by-four flat on the floor and stand on it with one foot in front of the other. Pick up a pen that has text printed on the side and with your arm fully extended; lift it (the pen) to eye level. Make a wide, sweeping figure eight pattern (in a horizontal path not vertical) with your arm and moving only your eyes (not your head) stay focused on the letters on the pen. Finally walk forward and backwards on the beam while continuing the figure eight pattern.”

The way I have found to use this is to first have them stand still and get the motion of the horizontal figure eight path first. Then walk a straight line next while doing the figure eight pattern. They will be unbalanced as they begin. Once they can do that then put them on the board. I’ve seen when they begin this drill the head trying to move in the pattern of the figure eight and that is when they get dizzy and start to stumble. Keep working on this as the kids say it improves not only their vision but also their balance.

Another great drill he recommends is Ocular Acrobatics.

He goes on to say in another drill, “One of the trickiest aspects of most sports is staying focused when everything is moving around you. Think of a wide receiver in football: He has to concentrate on the ball while he and the other players around him are in motion-a situation that easily overtaxes the brain. Skiers face the same task when speeding down a line on a crowed slope.”

The Challenge: “You want to be able to identify objects instantly, says Worrell. If you’re kayaking and you can’t ID that gnarly rock on your right and then quickly shift to the waterfall straight ahead, your system (vision) becomes disoriented and you might miss the safest line through the Class V rapids.”

I think trying to watch a ground ball when a runner is passing in the line of your sight or sliding towards you is another example of why this drill is important.


The Drill: “From a deck of cards, pick out the ace through six of one suit. (I like using 10 cards) Tape the cards randomly on a wall close to eye level, spacing them about one foot apart, with the ace in the center. Memorize where each card is located. Standing seven feet from the wall, jump your eyes (move the eyes not your head) from card to card in sequential order (ace through six) as quickly as possible, starting with the ace. You want your eyes to land on the card without having to refocus, but you don’t want to move to the next card until you can clearly see the current card. If you loose focus return to the ace and start over.”

While doing this drill I put my hand on top of their head and usually in the beginning you can feel them want to move the head versus using just the eyes.

Another drill I think really works well to drive the point home on tracking the ball is called the pencil drill.

While at the Cleveland Clinic in March 2002, I was reading the Sports Illustrated March 2002 edition. An article called Hitters Rule by Tom Verducci, talked about vision training and how players exercised their eyes by focusing on objects up close and then looking at objects in the distance to improve what is termed accommodation. The hitter while in the on deck circle held his bat up close to his eyes looking at the trademark on the bat and then looked at the center fielders position.

The Drill: Get two pens or pencils that having writing/ advertisements printed on it. Holding one pen in the left hand slowly move it at eye level toward your nose until you get it up close to your face and it is difficult to read. Your eyes are doing what is termed accommodation or moving closer together to focus on the object that is nearer your face. You will feel the strain on your eyes as you do this. Now holding the other pen in your right hand at arms length repeat this movement with the left hand and when you feel the strain switch your gaze to the pen/pencil in your outstretched right hand and your eyes will feel rested again. Doing these 6 to 30 minutes a day improves your ability to track a ball and hit it in my opinion.

The string drill is another great one to do. I’ve seen this drill recommended by Dr. Bill Harrison and Dr. Worrell for what is termed “Eye Teaming.”

The Drill: “Thread a half-inch bead on a 6 foot cord. (I found small key chain softballs to use) Attach one end to a doorknob. Face the doorknob and hold the other end taut to the bridge of your nose, so you’re 16 inches away from the bead. (I put a leather patch at the end of the string that is placed by the bridge of the nose/ forehead) Look at the bead. You should see two strings, as if one is coming from each eye. The two strings should appear to meet at the bead, (baseball) forming an X. (If they form a Y or only one string, the information from one eye is being suppressed: blink your eyes rapidly to “turn on” both eyes. If you X is in front of the bead, your eyes are aiming closer than it really is. In baseball or tennis, that might cause you to swing too early for the ball. Practice deep breathing and “looking softly” to move the X into the bead. If your X is beyond the bead, your eyes are aiming further away than it is-hence, a late swing at the ball. Practice looking in front of the bead to slowly get the X to the bead. When you find it easy to see the X at the bead, move the bead further out, according to your sport. Then add more beads and shift so one appears as one and the rest as double. (I mark the cord every 16 inches and move the ball as I see the X on both sides of the bead/baseball.)

Thanks Howard

 

[Hitter]

I have not read this book, but there are some "Old School" methods for training the eye. It was said that Ted Williams would put a record on the fastest speed and try to read the Letters at the center. The problem here is that no one has a record player or any records in 2010. A drill that we do is to put 1 or 2 stripes on practice balls. We than hit one of thes balls to a player positioned at 3rd base. If she catches a 1 stripe ball she throws to first. A 2 stripe ball is thrown to 2nd base. Another one would be to stripe a few balls that are than randomly included in with a batting machine. If a stripped ball is thrown the batter bunts. There is also something that is done with the "HIT-A-STICK" after a few minutes hitting with the HIT-A-STICK have the batter close their eyes. Than position the ball at an odd position around the plate. Than tell the batter to open her eyes. She has to instantly pickup where the ball went and make phyical,muscular, and mental adjustments to hit the ball.

TSW must have been using a 33 and 1/3 speed as 78 RPM can not be read according to the vision experts. Mush past 48 RPM is what the gifted can do and the rest of just do not have it! I used white plastic and put it on a turn table and tried it at 33 & 1/3, 45 and 78 and could read the 45 however not the 78. I used a dry erase marker and put words and numbers on the record and tried it with our kids. There is actually a device that mounts on the wall that you can buy and change the speeds like a volume control and mark on it.

I found using the card drill and the pencil drill offered the kids more improvements and it is cheap. I get the cards from the Texas Hold'em events and give them to the kids.

A drill I do off the tee and soft toss is I blind fold them after working off the tee for a while. I explain when doing our tee work that we look through the net and do not stare at the ball on the tee. We teach them to track by looking at something through the net and then give our head a head start and using our nose as an indicator of where we want the head to be positioned we give our head a head start and then we find the ball on the tee by tracking it.This method of tracking is tied in to the vestibular ocular motor reflex. When you turn your head quickly the eyes remain fixated on the pitchers window of release and the head is given a head start and then the eyes will catch up. The eyes can move faster than the head and tracking this way seems to help our hitters see the ball better. Because we are moving our bodies exactly the same or we are trying to each time we swing it helps us to adjust. To prove this I blind fold them and explain IF they do not track the ball the exact same way when blind folded as they do when they can see they will not hit the ball. When you move your head your inner ear sends signals to the deep joints and tendons in the body so you can maintain your balance even if you are in the dark. However you must turn your head and see the ball and track the ball as if you could see when blind folded. When the blind fold is on I tell the hitter to start their swing when I tap my foot. Then after three hits off the tee I silently remove the tee and soft toss and I tap my foot and I time their swing and usually within 5 balls or less they hit one. I ask them to remove the blind fold and their confidence is vastly improved once they understand what they have accomplished!

I did a clinic with Marc Dagenais, Hartwig, Hillhouse and Kobta and demonstrated to the coaches what could be done in less than 3 hours with a girl I had never worked with and she did it!

There was a person there from Softball the Magazine that even took pictures and I have been wanting to see if they had published an article yet.

Thanks Howard