The Use of Anticipatory Visual Cues by Highly Skilled Tennis Players

The authors examined 13 skilled and 12 novice tennis performers' ability to use visual information of an opponent's movement pattern to anticipate and respond. In Experiment 1, skilled and novice players anticipated the type of stroke and the direction in which the ball was hit in a highly coupled perception—action environment. Both groups of players correctly anticipated at greater than chance levels. Skilled players were significantly more accurate than novices with live and video displays but not with point-light displays. In Experiment 2, the reaction latencies of 10 expert performers were significantly faster when they returned balls hit by a live opponent than when they returned balls projected from a cloaked ball machine. The findings indicate that experts are able to use movement-pattern information to determine shot selection and to use that information to significantly reduce their response delay times. The findings are discussed in terms of perception-action coupling in time-stress activities.

[1]  G. Johansson.  Visual perception of biological motion and a model for its analysis , 1973 .

[2]  J. Cutting,et al.  Recognizing the sex of a walker from a dynamic point-light display , 1977 .

[3]  J. Cutting.  Generation of Synthetic Male and Female Walkers through Manipulation of a Biomechanical Invariant , 1978, Perception.

[4]  J. Cutting,et al.  Temporal and spatial factors in gait perception that influence gender recognition , 1978, Perception & psychophysics.

[5]  C. M. Jones,et al.  Use of advance cues in predicting the flight of a lawn tennis ball , 1978 .

[6]  J H Salmela,et al.  Visual cues in ice hockey goaltending. , 1979, Canadian journal of applied sport sciences. Journal canadien des sciences appliquees au sport.

[7]  S. Yussen,et al.  Observational learning. , 1979, Science.

[8]  L. Carlton.  Processing visual feedback information for movement control. , 1981, Journal of experimental psychology. Human perception and performance.

[9]  S. Runeson,et al.  Kinematic specification of dynamics as an informational basis for person and action perception: Expe , 1983 .

[10]  Lorraine G. Kisselburgh,et al.  Rapid visual feedback processing in single-aiming movements. , 1983, Journal of motor behavior.

[11]  Bruce Abernethy,et al.  A field examination of anticipation in squash , 1984 .

[12]  K. Newell.  Coordination, Control and Skill , 1985 .

[13]  D. Elliott,et al.  The Utilization of Visual Feedback Information during Rapid Pointing Movements , 1985, The Quarterly journal of experimental psychology. A, Human experimental psychology.

[14]  P. McLeod.  Visual Reaction Time and High-Speed Ball Games , 1987, Perception.

[15]  B. Abernethy,et al.  The relationship between expertise and visual search strategy in a racquet sport , 1987 .

[16]  G. Bingham,et al.  Kinematic form and scaling: further investigations on the visual perception of lifted weight. , 1987, Journal of experimental psychology. Human perception and performance.

[17]  J. Cutting,et al.  Minimodularity and the perception of layout. , 1988, Journal of experimental psychology. General.

[18]  M. Fleury,et al.  Expertise Differences in Preparing to Return a Tennis Serve: A Visual Information Processing Approach , 1989 .

[19]  B. Abernethy.  Expertise, Visual Search, and Information Pick-up in Squash , 1990, Perception.

[20]  B. Abernethy,et al.  Anticipation in squash: differences in advance cue utilization between expert and novice players. , 1990, Journal of sports sciences.

[21]  A. Williams,et al.  Perception and action in sport , 1992 .

[22]  Les G. Carlton,et al.  Chapter 1 Visual Processing Time and the Control of Movement , 1992 .

[23]  Geoffrey P. Bingham,et al.  Scaling Judgments of Lifted Weight: Lifter Size and the Role of the Standard , 1993 .

[24]  D. Elliott,et al.  Visual regulation of manual aiming , 1993 .

[25]  A. Williams.  Advance cue utilization in soccer , 1993 .

[26]  M. Goodale,et al.  The visual brain in action , 1995 .

[27]  R. Singer,et al.  Visual search, anticipation, and reactive comparisons between highly-skilled and beginning tennis players , 1996 .

[28]  L G Carlton,et al.  Perception of Kinematic Characteristics in the Motion of Lifted Weight. , 1997, Journal of motor behavior.

[29]  D. Scully,et al.  Observational learning in motor skill acquisition: A look at demonstrations , 1998 .

[30]  Romeo Chua,et al.  Goal-Directed Aiming: Correcting a Force-Specification Error With the Right and Left Hands. , 1999, Journal of motor behavior.

[31]  C. Michaels.  Information, Perception, and Action: What Should Ecological Psychologists Learn From Milner and Goodale (1995)? , 2000 .

[32]  S. Iversen.  Motor control , 2000, Clinical Neurophysiology.

[33]  B. Abernethy,et al.  Expertise and the Perception of Kinematic and Situational Probability Information , 2001, Perception.

[34]  A. Williams,et al.  Please Scroll down for Article Journal of Sports Sciences Visual Search, Anticipation and Expertise in Soccer Goalkeepers Visual Search, Anticipation and Expertise in Soccer Goalkeepers , 2022 .

[35]  A. Williams,et al.  Visual Search and Biological Motion Perception in Tennis , 2002, Research quarterly for exercise and sport.

[36]  Keith Davids,et al.  Interceptive actions in sport : information and movement , 2002 .

[37]  J. Norman.  Two visual systems and two theories of perception: An attempt to reconcile the constructivist and ecological approaches. , 2001, The Behavioral and brain sciences.

[38]  Christopher M. Janelle,et al.  Visual search and cue utilisation in racket sports , 2004 .