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Assessing Pupil-linked Changes in Locus Coeruleus-mediated Arousal Elicited by Trigeminal Stimulation

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Close, and a cigar!--Why size perception relates to performance.

Rouwen Cañal-Bruland¹, J R Pijpers, Raôul R D Oudejans

¹Research Institute MOVE, Faculty of Human Movement Sciences, VU University Amsterdam, van der Boechorststraat 9, 1081 BT Amsterdam, The Netherlands. r.canalbruland@vu.nl

|July 20, 2012

Summary

This summary is machine-generated.

Skilled athletes in sports like darts perceive targets as larger. This study found that consistent performance, indicated by lower variability, correlates with this larger perceived target size.

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Area of Science:

* Cognitive psychology
* Motor control
* Perceptual scaling

Background:

* Successful athletes in sports like baseball, golf, and darts consistently overestimate target size compared to less successful individuals.
* Empirical evidence supports this phenomenon, but underlying mechanisms remain unclear.
* Previous research suggests a link between performance and perceived target size.

Purpose of the Study:

* To investigate Proffitt and Linkenauger's proposal that performance variability acts as a metric for perceived target size.
* To determine if consistent performance explains why skilled individuals perceive targets as larger.
* To provide an explanation for the relationship between performance and perceptual scaling in motor tasks.

Main Methods:

* Re-analysis of existing dart throwing experimental data.
* Statistical examination of the relationship between performance variability and perceived target size.
* Utilizing performance consistency as a key variable in perceptual scaling analysis.

Main Results:

* A significant negative correlation was found between performance variability and perceived target size.
* Less variability in dart throwing performance was associated with perceiving the target as larger.
* Results support the hypothesis that performance consistency influences perceived target size.

Conclusions:

* Performance variability can serve as a scaling metric for perceived target size in motor tasks.
* Consistent performance in activities like dart throwing is linked to perceiving targets as larger.
* This finding offers a potential explanation for the performance-perception link in skilled motor actions.