Visual Search Behavior of Experienced Players while Anticipating the Success of Basketball Free Throws

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to compare the visual search behaviors of experienced basketball players with those of novices as they anticipated the success of a free throw. In basketball, the accurate judgment of the result of a free throw at an early time is an important factor in both performing the next play for the players and in deciding team tactics for coaches. The subjects were twelve experienced male basketball players and twelve novice counterparts. The task was to anticipate the success of free throws by responding verbally with ‘IN’ , ‘OUT’ or ‘Uncertain’ while viewing randomized successful / unsuccessful video-based models of free throws. The video was captured from a position to the side of the shooter's shooting arm and perpendicular to the plane of the intended motion of the ball. The stimuli were temporally occluded after the ball released the shooter's hand and before the ball reached the goal. In addition, the participants' visual search behaviors were acquired by using an eye movement tracking system. The results indicated that experienced players were able to anticipate a successful free throw earlier and more accurately than could the novices. Experienced players had an effective strategy to anticipate the result of free throws that was based on not only the ball's trajectory but also the use of shooter's coordinated motions as advanced cues for predicting the success of a free throw before the release of the ball. The experienced players' viewing points were distributed on the shooter's lower body until the execution phase and then on the shooter's shooting arms before ball release. This effective visual search behavior is therefore one of the most important factors in improving accurate judgment at an early time.