Skill level changes the coordination and variability of standing posture and movement in a pistol-aiming task

The study investigated the coordination and variability of posture and pistol motion for skilled pistol shooters and novices in a pistol-aiming task. The participants stood on a force platform and held a pistol with the preferred arm to aim for accuracy to a target on 30 s trials. The results revealed that the amount of the centre of pressure (COP) and pistol motion was lower for the expert than novice group. The time-varying structure of COP as indexed by multiscale entropy (MSE) and detrended fluctuation analysis (DFA) was also lower for the expert than the novice group. The relative phase between the COP in the anterior-posterior (AP) and pistol in the AP and between the COP in the medial-lateral (ML) and pistol in AP was close to inphase for the both groups. However, for the novice group the coordination patterns of posture and pistol motion were more variable with the pistol motion leading the posture motion while it was lagging in the skilled group. The findings show different qualitative and quantitative dynamics in pistol-aiming as a function of skill level with postural control foundational to supporting the reduced dispersion and complexity of the skilled arm-pistol motion.