Abstract

Cerebral asymmetries for spatial attention generate a bias of attention – causing lines to be bisected to the left or right in near (within reach) and far (outside reach) space, respectively. This study explored whether the rightward deviation for bisecting lines in far space extends to tasks where a ball is aimed between two goal-posts. Kicking was assessed in a laboratory and a real-life setting. In the laboratory setting, 212 participants carried out three conditions: (a) kick a soccer ball at a single goal post, (b) kick a soccer ball between two goal posts and (c) use a stick to indicate the middle between two goal posts. The goals were placed at a distance of 4.0 m. There was no deviation in the one-goal kicking condition – demonstrating that no asymmetries exist in the perceptual motor system when aiming at a single point. When kicking or pointing at the middle between two goal posts, rightward deviations were observed. In the real-world setting, the number of misses to the left or right of goal (behinds) in the Australian Rules football for the 2005–2009 seasons was assessed. The data showed more rightward deviations for kicks at goal. Combined, the studies suggest that the rightward deviation for lines placed in far space extends to the kicking of a football in laboratory and real-life settings. This asymmetry in kicking builds on a body of research showing that attentional asymmetries impact everyday activities.

Highlights

  • The apparent left/right symmetry of the human body at a surface level belies a number of significant functional brain asymmetries that affect perception and action

  • While the ANOVA revealed no significant effect of width [F(2,209) = 1.90, ns], one-sample t-tests revealed that the rightward deviation was significant for widths of 900 and 1500 mm, but not for a width of 500 mm

  • In the one-goal kicking condition, there was no significant deviation to the left or right. This condition was designed to provide a baseline measure of kicking ability where participants aimed their kick at a single point of space

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Summary

Introduction

The apparent left/right symmetry of the human body at a surface level belies a number of significant functional brain asymmetries that affect perception and action. When asked to bisect a line placed in near space, intact-brain participants reliably place the bisector slightly to the left of true centre [6] This bias operates in the opposite direction to clinical neglect, and for this reason, it is often called ‘pseudoneglect’ [7]. Roberts and Turnbull [26] asked novices to putt golf-balls towards a cup and found more misses to the right They found an association between the asymmetry for putting and asymmetries for line bisection. A better understanding of how attentional asymmetries affect performance might come from sports where a ball is aimed between two goal posts (e.g. rugby, Australian rules football, gridiron, hockey and soccer). By examining the number of behinds scored to the left and right, Australian Rules football should provide a useful means of testing asymmetries in kicking on the sporting field. It was predicted that more behinds to the right (from the kicker’s perspective) would be scored

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