Implications of eye tracking technology for applied sport psychology

Abstract

Eye tracking technology records the location, duration and sequence of people’s visual fixations when they inspect a given scene. In this way, it elucidates what people pay attention to when they look at sources of information. The present paper investigates some practical implications of this technology for attentional training in applied sport psychology. Following a brief overview of eye movements, the article describes three popular types of eye trackers in sport psychology—fixed, mobile, and head-mounted systems. Then, it examines some recent eye tracking research on improving athletes’ gaze behavior and skilled performance. After that, it summarize the practical implications of these studies for attentional training in applied sport psychology. The article concludes by exploring how eye tracking technology can augment cognitive training in sport.

Keywords:

• Applied sport psychology
• attention
• eye tracking
• gaze training
• quiet eye

Acknowledgments

We wish to acknowledge with gratitude the technical assistance provided by Colin Burke (School of Psychology, University College Dublin).