Visual system in sports

COURSE OUTCOME:
DISCUSS THE ROLE OF VISION IN
MOVEMENT PRODUCTION.
Introduction
Two important of visual function which
receives information in a different segment
of the field of vision which extend 200
degree horizontally and 160 degree
vertically.
– Central vision
– Peripheral vision
Role of Vision in Motor Control
1. Monocular (one eye) vs. Binocular (two eyes) Vision
depth-perception

 Binocular vision important for

 when 3-dimensional features involved in performance
situation, e.g.
 Reaching – grasping objects
 Walking on a cluttered pathway
 Intercepting a moving object

 MC system operates more efficient & effectively with receives

info from both eyes.
 Accuracy & efficiency of the movement decrease as the
distance of the object increases with one eyes.
2. Central and Peripheral Vision

Central vision
 Sometimes called foveal vision
 Middle 2-5 deg. of visual field
 Provides specific information to allow us to achieve action
goals, e.g.
 For reaching and grasping an object – specific characteristic info, e.g. size, shape,
required to prepare, move, and grasp object
 For walking on a pathway – specific pathway info needed to stay on the pathway
Central and Peripheral Vision, cont’d.

Peripheral vision
 Detects info beyond the central vision limits
 Upper limit typically ~ 200 deg.
 Provides info about the environmental context and the
moving limb(s)
 When we move through an environment, peripheral vision
detects info by assessing optical flow patterns
 Optical flow = rays of light that strike the retina
Two visual systems

 Vision for perception (central vision)

 Anatomically referred to as the ventral stream – from visual cortex to temporal lobe
 For fine analysis of a scene, e.g. form, features
 Typically available to consciousness

 Vision for action (peripheral vision)

 Anatomically referred to as the dorsal stream – from visual cortex to posterior
parietal lobe
 For detecting spatial characteristics of a scene and guiding movement
 Typically not available to consciousness
3. Perception – Action Coupling

Refers to the “coupling” (i.e. linking together) of a perceptual event

and an action. Is an essential element for skillful performance of open
skill.

The perception part of the interaction detect and uses critical invariant
information in environment (e.g., the amount of time until the object
contact the person.)

Setting and regulating of movement control features that enables

person to achieve the action goal.

 Example of research evidence:

 See experiments by Helsen et al. (1998 & 2000) described in
textbook (pp. 98-99)
 Results show that spatial and temporal characteristics of limb
movements occurred together with specific spatial and temporal
characteristics of eye movements
4. Amount of Time Needed for Movement Corrections

 Concerns vision’s feedback role during movement

 Correction can only occurs when the person has sufficient time to
detect and modify the movement.

 This mean there is a minimum total movement time requirement in

order for the performer to be able to use visual feedback to correct
movement errors prior to the completion of the movement.

 Typical procedure: Compare accuracy of rapid manual aiming

movements of various movement time’s with target visible and then
not visible just after movement begins
 Expect accurate movement with lights off when no visual
feedback needed during movement
 Currently, best estimate is a range of 100 – 160 msec. (The
typical range for simple RT to a visual signal)
5. Time-to-Contact: The Optical Variable

 Concerns situations in which

 Object moving to person must be intercept
 Person moving toward object needs to contact or avoid
contact with object

 Vision provides info about time-to-contact object which motor

control system uses to initiate movement
 Automatic, non-conscious specification based on changing
size of object on retina
 At critical size, requisite movement initiated