Does Motor or Visual Experience Enhance the Detection of Deceptive Movements in Football?

Abstract

This study addressed the question of whether motor and visual experiences enhance the detection of deceptive and non-deceptive actions in football. Using a pre–post–retention test design, we conducted an intervention study with 40 football players, manipulating specific motor and visual experiences through a training intervention, with the motor group learning to fake fouls and the visual group watching the training. Prior general motor and visual experiences were also assessed via a questionnaire. Referee-like decision-making performance, involving the detection of deceptive actions, was measured using a video test. Separate 4 × 3 (Group × Video Test) repeated-measures analyses of variance were calculated, with decision accuracy and decision time as the dependent variables, representing decision-making performance. The results revealed only slight effects of the intervention, with the motor group reporting long-term effects, as reflected by the greater performance enhancement from post- to retention test. Prior general visual experience in football was shown to enhance deception detection for all three groups. Sport associations could use these results in their referee education programs by including prior general experiences as well as motor and visual training in deceptive and non-deceptive actions to enhance accurate judgments of these situations on the field.