Open AccessScanning activity of elite football players in 11 vs. 11 match play: An eye-tracking analysis on the duration and visual information of scanning
Author(s) -
Karl Marius Aksum,
Lars Brotangen,
Christian Thue Bjørndal,
Lukas Magnaguagno,
Geir Jordet
Publication year - 2021
Publication title -
plos one
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.99
H-Index - 332
ISSN - 1932-6203
DOI - 10.1371/journal.pone.0244118
Subject(s) - football , exploratory research , eye tracking , perception , visual search , context (archaeology) , elite , duration (music) , psychology , computer science , artificial intelligence , geography , art , literature , archaeology , neuroscience , sociology , politics , anthropology , political science , law
Visual perception in football (“soccer” in the U.S.) is increasingly becoming a key area of interest for researchers and practitioners. This exploratory case study investigated a sub-set of visual perception, namely visual exploratory scanning. The aim of this study was to examine the scanning of four elite football midfield players in an 11 vs. 11 real-game environment using mobile eye-tracking technology. More specifically, we measured the duration and information (number of teammates and opponents) of the players’ scanning behavior. The results showed that the players’ scanning duration was influenced by the ball context and the action undertaken with the ball at the moment of scan initiation. Furthermore, fixations were found in only 2.3% of the scans. Additionally, the results revealed that the stop point is the most information-rich part of a scan and that the players had more opponents than teammates inside their video frame during scans. Practical applications and further research recommendations are presented.