Differences in Visual Search Strategies Based on Multiple Object Tracking Skill Level of Soccer Athletes

Abstract

  This study aimed to clarify the differences in visual search strategies based on Multiple Object Tracking (MOT) skill level using an MOT subject newly developed for soccer. Twenty-nine university soccer athletes participated in the experiment. First, in order to confirm the validity of the developed MOT subject for soccer, the participants executed both a general and the developed MOT subject for soccer. On calculating the correlation coefficient for individual subject results, we observed a significant positive correlation among them (r = .767, p < 0.001). We then divided the participants into two groups (n = 7, high MOT skill group ; n = 8, low MOT skill group) based on their scores on the MOT subject for soccer and investigated the visual search strategy that was underway as the MOT subject for soccer. We compared the migration length of the visual line in both groups and found that the length for the high MOT skill group tended to be longer than that for the low MOT skill group (t [13] = 1.30, n.s. ; d = 0.68). Moreover, we divided the soccer field into six areas and analyzed the rate of viewing time. We found that both groups may have used a visual search strategy that involved emphasizing ball movement and the chase-targeted athletes’ motion. Finally, we precisely investigated the time-series visual line data of the MOT subjects for soccer, and the results indicated that the high MOT skill group may have been moving the visual line in anticipation of the next playing scene. We thus developed the general MOT subject specifically for use in soccer. Moreover, these results indicate that MOT skill may have correlated with the prediction accuracy of the play at the scene, along with situation judgment, owing to MOT skill.