Bayesian Hierarchical modelling of goal side selection in a soccer penalty kicking task.

The present study investigates goal side selection in soccer penalty kicking. Given the task of choosing which side of a soccer goal to best score, participants viewed realistic images of a soccer goal and goalkeeper. The goalkeeper’s position was systematically displaced along the goal line, and the lateral position of the goalmouth was systematically displaced in each image – to simulate changes in the viewing position of the kicker. Hierarchical Bayesian analysis is used to examine participant’s weighting of the goalkeeper’s position and kicker’s viewing position on binary goal side selection. Overall, participants tended to choose the left over right goal side, but this depended on the goalkeeper’s position relative to the centre of the goal and, to lesser extent, lateral position of the goalmouth relative to the participant’s body midline. These findings are considered in relation to the line bisection task as regularly used in neuropsychology to assess visual neglect.