Analysis of Gymnastics Judges' Visual Search

Abstract This study was designed to investigate the visual search patterns of gymnastics judges. The subjects were four national judges (experienced) and three local judges (novice). Three dependent variables were measured: the number and the location of ocular fixations during the evaluation of a gymnast's performance, and the number of errors made by the judges. Ocular fixations were studied by the corneal reflection technique with a NAC Eye-Movement Recorder. There was no statistical difference in the number of fixations for both groups of judges. However, the expert judges had 27% less fixations than the novice judges. A statistical difference was found between expert judges and novice judges for the location of fixations; experts had more fixations on the upper part of the gymnast's body, while novices concentrated their attention on the legs. The type of routine significantly affected the number of fixations; more fixations were found for optional routines. There was no statistical difference in the number of judgment errors made by the two groups of judges. However, novice judges detected only half the gymnast's errors detected by the expert judges.