Gaze Behaviour of Skilled and Less-Skilled Karate Athletes While Viewing Occluded Video Attacks

Titel Gaze Behaviour of Skilled and Less-Skilled Karate Athletes While Viewing Occluded Video Attacks

Autor*innen Nicole Bandow & Kerstin Witte

Zitationsvorschlag

Bandow, N., & Witte, K. (2020). Gaze Behaviour of Skilled and Less-Skilled Karate Athletes While Viewing Occluded Video Attacks. Journal of Martial Arts Research, 3(3). https://doi.org/10.15495/ojs_25678221_33_159

Abstract

Perceiving relevant visual information at an early stage, and choosing an appropriate response is vital in karate kumite. Up to date, it is not known which visual cues are used in karate kumite. The analysis of gaze behaviour while viewing occluded attacks could give more insight into this topic. The aim of this paper is therefore the analysis of karate athletes’ gaze behaviour, while seeing occluded (n=18) and not occluded (n=6) karate attacks of the gyaku tsuki (GZ) and mawashi geri (MG) on a video screen. First, we examined the influence of visual occlusion on the athlete’s gaze behaviour. Second, we analysed whether there were differences in number of fixations, fixation duration, and fixation locations between skilled (n=16) and less-skilled (n=10) karate athletes. Gaze behaviour was recorded up to the main punching or kicking performance by a mobile eye tracking device. No significant effects of occlusion on gaze behaviour were found. Significant differences in number of fixations between skill levels were found for the GZ with occluded pelvis, and for the MG with occluded rear leg and without occlusion. The left arm was significantly more often fixated by skilled compared to less skilled for the GZ. This study confirms the use of a visual pivot to perceive peripheral information and relying on covert attention. Moreover, the results show the impact of distance in karate kumite, which is a searchable topic for the future.