Visual search theories and their relevance to sport performance

Abstract

This chapter describes visual search theories that explain how expert athletes differ from less-expert athletes. Visual search is a part of perceptual-cognitive skills and allows athletes to gather relevant task-related environmental information. This chapter discusses the Guided Search 6.0 theory (Wolfe, 2021) and explains how individuals search their environment. The chapter examines several theories/models and the gaze characteristics expected based on each of them. These theories are the information-reduction hypothesis (Haider & Frensch, 1999), the long-term working memory theory (Ericsson & Kintsch, 1995), and the global/holistic image perception approach (Kundel et al., 2007). The chapter reviews studies that show which theory is more likely to explain differences between experts and less experts in sport. Finally, the chapter discusses open questions and suggests ideas for future research.